Culture wars and personal issues are expected to dominate a hearing Tuesday for President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be the next defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army combat veteran, will be the first of Trump’s Cabinet picks to be publicly questioned by members of Congress when he appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Roughly a dozen other hearings are also scheduled this week as senators race to help Trump fill out his administration ahead of his inauguration next Monday.
Tapped to lead the massive Defense Department, Hegseth has faced allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking and financial mismanagement when he ran a veterans’ advocacy organization, all of which he has denied. He has faced criticism for past opposition to allowing women and openly gay people to serve in combat, positions he has walked back.
Others have expressed concern that Hegseth does not have adequate management experience to oversee the sprawling military bureaucracy, which employs more than 2.1 million people and has a budget of more than $800 billion.
Despite the criticism, Trump has stood by Hegseth, saying he has his full support. Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill and in outside conservative groups have been pressuring Republican senators to support the nomination.
“He will be ripped, he will be demeaned, he will be talked about, but we’re going to get him across the finish line,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said Monday.
With little to no support expected to come from Democrats, Hegseth cannot afford to lose many GOP votes in the narrowly divided Senate. A key vote on the Armed Services Committee will be that of Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a military veteran and sexual assault survivor who has been skeptical of Hegseth’s bid.
Outside of the panel, two Senate Republican women often seen as moderates, Susan Collins, of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, are also of particular focus.
Senators in both parties have expressed concern about a 2017 sexual assault allegation. A female staffer for a Republican women’s group said Hegseth took her phone and blocked her from leaving his hotel room before he forced himself on her after a political convention in Monterey, California. She reported the incident to police, and Hegseth settled for an undisclosed sum.
Hegseth has said the relation was consensual, and his lawyer said he “strongly felt that he was the victim of blackmail and innocent collateral damage in a lie that the Complainant was holding onto to keep her marriage intact.”
The FBI background check on Hegseth, which the chairman and the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee received late last week, does not include interviews with the woman or with Hegseth’s ex-wives, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the contents of the report.
Hegseth’s mother also accused him of abusing women in text messages during his second divorce, though she later recanted the allegations, calling her son a “changed man,” and she now supports his nomination.
Senators, including Collins, have said they have held productive meetings with Hegseth at which he surpassed their expectations.
But Democrats are expected to excoriate Hegseth and Trump for selecting him to lead the Pentagon.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday that Hegseth’s background was “deeply troubling.”
“Mr. Hegseth will have an opportunity to answer questions about these allegations and about his record, as well as his views,” Schumer said. “He can expect this — his hearing to be tough but respectful, candid but fair.”
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