Mother Jones
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Hegseth's Lack of Answers Says A Lot
Posted
January 14, 2025
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January 14, 2025
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It took nearly two hours into Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday for Democrats to effectively underscore the deeply alarming allegations surrounding the former Fox News host as he attempts to get confirmed as Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense. But when they finally did, Democrats came out swinging.
As for Hegseth, it was his refusal to answer key questions related to those accusations—whether domestic abuse is a disqualifying factor for the job or if he’d resign if he reneged on a drinking pledge— that proved equally damning.
“Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) asked, alluding to allegations of sexual assault against Hegseth. “Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct?”
“Senator, I was falsely accused in October of 2016 and I was fully investigated and I was completely cleared.”
“I don’t think ‘completely cleared’ is accurate,” Sen. Hirono quickly replied, alluding to a payment Hegseth made, as part of a non-disclosure agreement, to a woman after she filed a police report accusing him of sexual assault. “The fact is that your own lawyer said that you paid a person who accused you of raping her a sum of money to make sure that she did not file a complaint. Moving on.”
Hirono did not stop there, swiftly moving to the next allegation: excessive drinking.
Though Hirono appeared to be the first to underscore, at least effectively, the absurdity of confirming a nominee plagued by allegations, she wasn’t the last. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) built on this questioning by laying out a timeline of Hegseth’s personal conduct during his second marriage.
Together, the moments appeared to neatly and harrowingly encapsulate the unique dangers of Hegseth’s nomination in a way that has evaporated, at least among Republicans, since the accusations against Hegseth first emerged. Would they be enough to convince Republicans to reject him? It seems like that decision has already been made.
#Hegseth #SenateHearing #TrumpNominee
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