Pete Hegseth showed why Trump chose him with a defiant performance that would have looked at home on Fox News, where he used to be a host.
By the end of the hearing, Democrats had hoped that Hegseth, 44, would have looked like he had been waterboarded, a torture technique he has mused should be brought back by the US military.
It was a major blow to Democrats and raises questions over whether they will be able to stop any of Trump’s other controversial cabinet nominations, including vaccine denier Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Yet as the hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee began, the President-elect said that Hegseth had his “complete and total support” and said to him: “Good luck today, Pete!”
Protesters demonstrated as the confirmation hearing took place, with security removing some from the room after they heckled Hegseth (Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The landmines came at Hegseth even before he finished his opening statement with a protester calling him a “misogynist” before being bundled out by security.
In his remarks, Hegseth claimed that he would focus the three million US service personnel he would be in charge of on “lethality and meritocracy”.
In response to a question from a Republican Senator, Hegseth blamed a “coordinated smear campaign” from the liberal media for trying to take him down.
“I’m not a perfect person”, Hegseth said, adding that he had been “saved by the grace of God and Jennifer”, referring to his third wife, former Fox producer Jennifer Rauchet, who sat a few rows behind him.
Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Senator who is the Democrats’ ranking member on the committee, asked Hegseth about emails that had been sent in recent months to liberal members of the military calling them “disloyal” and “traitorous”.
Reed was left grumpily saying that Hegseth’s responses were “interesting” but failed to land a blow.
She asked him about comments last November in which Hegseth said he was “straight up saying we should not have women in combat roles, it hasn’t made us more effective”.
New York Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand gave Hegseth a dressing down that sounded like a court martial.
“You will have to change how you see women if you’re to do this job well and I don’t know if you’re capable of that,” Senator Gillibrand said.
When he was finally given the chance to speak, Hegseth said: “I have never disparaged women serving in the military. My critiques have been instances where I’ve seen standards lowered”.
“What’s wrong with being a mom by the way?” she said. “Once you have babies you’re no longer able to be lethal?”
Hegseth said that he was in the Washington DC National Guard unit on duty that day, to which Hirono replied: “That sounds to me you will comply, you will shoot protesters in the legs”.
Hegseth dodged again and said that “President Trump received 77 million votes to be the lawful commander in chief”.
It fell to Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat and former Vice Presidential running mate for Hillary Clinton, to get into the real dirt, including an allegation of sexual assault from 2017 which led to a financial settlement for the woman.
Kaine said he was “shocked” at the response and asked how he could “so casually cheat” on his wife.
Kaine asked: “Are there any other important facts you chose not to reveal?”
Kaine replied: “With multiple non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality agreements tying the hands of people who would like to speak to us”.
It was indeed.
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