{"id":9297,"date":"2025-01-15T19:47:28","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T11:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=9297"},"modified":"2025-01-15T19:47:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T11:47:32","slug":"democrats-fail-to-land-decisive-blow-against-hegseth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=9297","title":{"rendered":"Democrats fail to land decisive blow against Hegseth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee failed to land a decisive blow against Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump\u2019s nominee to serve as secretary of Defense, after several hours of tense questioning about his qualifications, views on women in combat, infidelity and drinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats need to flip just one Republican on the Armed Services panel to block Hegseth, but no Republican senator on Tuesday appeared willing to sink Hegseth\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who has championed women in combat and cracking down on sexual assault in the military, appeared to warm up to the nominee during her seven minutes of questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She reiterated the priorities she expects him to pursue if confirmed to lead the Pentagon, and Hegseth in turn pledged to support giving women continued access to ground combat roles if they can meet certain physical standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the hearing wrapped up, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters that he would bring Hegseth to the floor quickly for a vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thune said he doesn\u2019t see any reason for Hegseth not to be confirmed after the hours-long hearing during which Republicans emphasized public statements praising Hegseth\u2019s character and Democrats raised allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement and drunkenness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up Next – Highlights from Pete Hegseth confirmation hearing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s addressed those allegations,\u201d Thune told reporters Tuesday afternoon. \u201cEvery report I\u2019ve had, the readout from the hearing this morning is that he acquitted himself extremely well and made a strong argument for why he ought to be the next secretary of Defense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIf he\u2019s reported out of committee, we will work quickly to get him across the floor,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who in December called the allegations against Hegseth \u201cvery disturbing,\u201d said the nominee now appears to be a shoo-in for confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDemocratic attacks were overly personal and fell flat. It was clear Pete was more prepared for the hearing than my Democratic colleagues,\u201d he said. \u201cWith today\u2019s performance, I believe Pete Hegseth\u2019s path to confirmation has been assured.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth is scheduled to get a vote in committee early next week, which would put him on a trajectory to win confirmation before the end of January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Armed Services panel, said the barrage of attacks from Democrats did nothing to alter the vote calculus in the committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d he said when asked if the hearing had altered Hegseth\u2019s trajectory toward confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is kind of what we expected would happen,\u201d he said. \u201cI think Mr. Hegseth has done a good job of responding in many cases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rounds said he knew Democrats would poke at Hegseth, including by bringing up a sexual encounter he had with a woman at a Republican women\u2019s event in California in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That incident happened while he was still married to his second wife and had just become father to a child born of another woman, whom he would later marry as his third wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) pointedly questioned Hegseth over his character and judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou had just fathered a child two months before by a woman who was not your wife,\u201d Kaine said, referring to a sexual encounter that Hegseth had with a woman in 2017 who later accused him of sexual assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am shocked that you would stand here and say you\u2019re completely cleared and you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of a child who had been born two months before, and you tell us you were completely cleared,\u201d he said during one of the tensest moments of the hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Republicans say that and other heated exchanges with Democrats are unlikely peel away GOP support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew that it would come up because it was part of the discussion early on. So it does not surprise us that it came up in that fashion,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cNow it\u2019s a matter of moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that it changed any minds. I think a number of us have had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Hegseth directly about some of those issues. But we wanted to see how he would respond in a public setting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) expressed dismay over what appears to be Hegseth\u2019s path toward confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf today\u2019s hearing is a sense of what\u2019s to come, we are deeply concerned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schumer pointed out that Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) rejected a request to allow all the members of the panel to review documents related to Hegseth\u2019s FBI background investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy is the chairman hell-bent to keep all relevant information out of the hands of his colleagues?\u201d he asked. \u201cTo dismiss the allegations against Mr. Hegseth but then reject full transparency is, at best, odd \u2014 suspicious, concerning at worst.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ernst, a key vote, seemed ready to support Hegseth after he pledged to keep her priorities for the Pentagon front of mind. Hegseth told the Iowa senator he would appoint a senior-level official at the Pentagon dedicated to sexual assault prevention and response, noting that he had previously discussed the issue with Ernst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ernst even helped play a little defense for Hegseth, talking about the testimonial Mark Lucas, who formerly served as executive director of Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), gave about Hegseth\u2019s leadership of that group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn his letter, Mr. Lucas said that Mr. Hegseth \u2018laid a strong foundation that postured CVA for long-term success,\u2019\u201d she said, entering the letter into the official record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member of the Armed Services panel who has supported the previous eight nominees for secretary of Defense, said his Republican colleagues feel intimidated by the threat that outside groups will spend millions against them if they vote against Hegseth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reed told Hegseth he lacked the necessary experience, character and composure for the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican senators rallied behind Hegseth despite a Wall Street Journal editorial published Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Journal\u2019s editorial board questioned Hegseth\u2019s judgment, citing a sexual encounter in 2017 with a woman who later accused him of assault. Hegseth previously said it was a consensual act and has repeatedly called the assault allegation \u201cfalse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe real concern is judgment \u2014 why was Mr. Hegseth, by then a well-known TV personality, cavorting with a woman whose husband was at the same hotel?\u201d the Journal asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Republican who is considered most likely to vote against Hegseth, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), said Tuesday that she had not watched the confirmation hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republicans will have a 53-seat majority once a new GOP senator from Ohio is sworn into office. With that majority, four Republicans would need to vote against Hegseth to block him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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