"[Hegseth] stuck to his guns. I am somewhat disappointed in him not being as firm on women in combat; it sounds as if he didn't want to change anything. Unfortunately, we've gone too far in that direction. He's there because like he says, he's a 'change agent' – much like Trump …. If we bring the right teams together – people who know the business [and] aren't afraid of stepping on toes – then we're going to have a good outcome. That's the key here." Bob Maginnis, senior fellow for national security |
“It’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. A change agent,” Hegseth said in his opening remarks.
“This is not academic,” he declared, wearing an American flag pocket square on his suitcoat. “This is my life.”
Asked directly about the sexual assault allegation, Hegseth dismissed it as a “smear campaign” and unfair attack.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the chairman, compared Hegseth to Trump himself, dismissed the various allegations against him as unfounded and said he will “bring energy and fresh ideas to shake up the bureaucracy.”
But Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. said flatly: “I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job.”
In the audience were cadres of men wearing clothing expressing support for veterans or service in the military.
In many ways, the Hegseth hearing was following the template set during Trump’s first term, when one of his choices for Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh, came under intense scrutiny over allegations of sexual assault but turned the tables on his critics and recouped to win confirmatiion to the high court.
“He will be ripped. He will be demeaned. He will be talked about,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., at an event with former Navy SEALs, Army special forces and Marines supporting the nominee. “But we’re going to get him across the finish line.”
Hegseth attended Princeton University and served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. But he lacks senior military and national security experience.
