Democrats fail to land decisive blow against Hegseth

Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee failed to land a decisive blow against Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary of Defense, after several hours of tense questioning about his qualifications, views on women in combat, infidelity and drinking.

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’s nomination.

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.

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.

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.

Thune said he doesn’t see any reason for Hegseth not to be confirmed after the hours-long hearing during which Republicans emphasized public statements praising Hegseth’s character and Democrats raised allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement and drunkenness.

“I think he’s addressed those allegations,” Thune told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “Every report I’ve 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.”

“If he’s reported out of committee, we will work quickly to get him across the floor,” he added.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who in December called the allegations against Hegseth “very disturbing,” said the nominee now appears to be a shoo-in for confirmation.

“Democratic attacks were overly personal and fell flat. It was clear Pete was more prepared for the hearing than my Democratic colleagues,” he said. “With today’s performance, I believe Pete Hegseth’s path to confirmation has been assured.”

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.

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.

“I don’t think so,” he said when asked if the hearing had altered Hegseth’s trajectory toward confirmation.

“This is kind of what we expected would happen,” he said. “I think Mr. Hegseth has done a good job of responding in many cases.”

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’s event in California in 2017.

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.   

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) pointedly questioned Hegseth over his character and judgment.

“You had just fathered a child two months before by a woman who was not your wife,” Kaine said, referring to a sexual encounter that Hegseth had with a woman in 2017 who later accused him of sexual assault.  

“I am shocked that you would stand here and say you’re 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,” he said during one of the tensest moments of the hearing.

But Republicans say that and other heated exchanges with Democrats are unlikely peel away GOP support.

“We 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,” said Rounds. “Now it’s a matter of moving forward.

“I don’t 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,” he said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) expressed dismay over what appears to be Hegseth’s path toward confirmation.  

“If today’s hearing is a sense of what’s to come, we are deeply concerned,” he said.

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’s FBI background investigation.

“Why is the chairman hell-bent to keep all relevant information out of the hands of his colleagues?” he asked. “To dismiss the allegations against Mr. Hegseth but then reject full transparency is, at best, odd — suspicious, concerning at worst.”

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.

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’s leadership of that group.

“In his letter, Mr. Lucas said that Mr. Hegseth ‘laid a strong foundation that postured CVA for long-term success,’” she said, entering the letter into the official record.

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.

Reed told Hegseth he lacked the necessary experience, character and composure for the job.

Republican senators rallied behind Hegseth despite a Wall Street Journal editorial published Monday.

The Journal’s editorial board questioned Hegseth’s 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 “false.”

“The real concern is judgment — why was Mr. Hegseth, by then a well-known TV personality, cavorting with a woman whose husband was at the same hotel?” the Journal asked.

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.

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.