Some Republicans remain unsold on Hegseth

SIMI VALLEY, California—Pete Hegseth, the president-elect’s controversial pick for defense secretary, spent last week on Capitol Hill trying to persuade Republicans that he’s fit for the job. But some lawmakers remain unconvinced. 

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a key Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and former military officer, said Hegseth will go through a “very thorough vetting process” and noted her experience with sexual assault when asked about what else she needs to hear from Hegseth before she supports him. 

“I am a survivor of sexual assault, so I've worked very heavily on sexual assault measures within the military. So I'd like to hear a little more about that. I'd like to hear about the role of women in our great United States military,” Ernst told the audience at the Reagan National Defense Forum here. 

Hegseth was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017; he later paid her as part of a nondisclosure agreement. The Fox TV personality and former Army major has also publicly questioned whether women should serve in combat roles. 

Ernst said she’ll sit down with Hegseth again this week, and expects an FBI background check to provide her with more information about Donald Trump’s pick.

Other senators have expressed concern about reports of Hegseth’s drinking on the job, but have since touted his promise to stop drinking if appointed. His inexperience is also a concern: Hegseth has never made national-security policy, served in a senior military role, worked in defense acquisition, or led an organization larger than a nonprofit advocacy group. 

He is an “anti-woke” crusader who has "embraced Trump’s effort to end programs that promote diversity in the ranks and fire those who reflect those values," as AP put it. He has also called for firing officers involved in the Afghanistan withdrawal. 

One Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., pushed back on Hegseth’s plan, arguing that those military officials were following orders of their commander-in-chief. 

“The nominee for the secretary of defense has talked about wanting to go after the generals for being too DEI or going after those who he thought responsible for Afghanistan, and I think we should be careful about that. Our generals are following the orders of the President of the United States, the civilian commander and the Secretary of Defense, and it's not right to punish a military guy for bad decisions,” Bacon told Defense One on the sidelines of Reagan.

Some of those generals recommended against “a lot of the stuff” President Biden ordered, but had to follow lawful orders from their civilian leaders, Bacon said. 

Politico recently summed up Hegseth’s stances this way: “Based on numerous public statements and writings, it’s likely he will aim to undermine the military’s long-standing nonpartisan pluralism by scrubbing diversity from the ranks, banning women in combat, urging the military to choose sides in a ‘civil war’ against ‘domestic enemies’ on the left, and orienting the military’s mission around his fixation on the Muslim world, which he feels represents an existential threat to Western civilization.”

Trump has continued to defend his pick, writing on Friday that support for Hegseth is “strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe.”