Sen. Duckworth: Hegseth Is ‘Inordinately Unqualified’ to Be Secretary of Defense
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, pulled no punches when discussing Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense.
The Democratic senator sounded off on Hegseth’s lack of experience, calling him a “pretty low-ranking guy” when he was in the military. Hegseth served as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay. He has worked at Fox News in various on-air roles since 2014.
“He was a pretty low-ranking guy in the military, and he never had a command position,” Duckworth told host Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation. “He was a platoon leader, I think, once or twice, but he never even commanded a company. And so this is a man who is inordinately, unqualified for the position.”
The senator continued, “The Pentagon is 3 million servicemen and women and civilians. It is over a $900 billion budget. He’s never run anything anywhere near to that size.”
Even Republican senators have spoken out anonymously against Hegseth’s nomination, with one senator telling Rolling Stone Trump’s choice “makes no sense!”
Duckworth additionally criticized Hegseth’s vocal opposition to women serving in combat roles. Hegseth has said, “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated.”
“He’s wrong,” Duckworth said of Hegseth. “Our military could not go to war without the 220,000 plus women who serve in uniform. Women [serving] in our military does make us more effective, does make us more lethal.”
Duckworth was co-piloting a Black Hawk helicopter in 2004 in Iraq when it was shot down by an RPG. Duckworth was severely injured, losing her legs and partial use of her right arm.
In addition to his terrible takes on women in combat, Hegseth wrote in his book that the Pentagon’s “social justice” messaging and “woke” policies have harmed recruitment efforts. “America’s white sons and daughters are walking away [from military service], and who can blame them,” he wrote in the book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, published in June.
Hegseth also faces a sexual assault allegation, which, according to Rolling Stone’s reporting, he hid from Trump’s transition team.
A woman accused Hegseth of sexually assaulting her in a California hotel room in 2017. According to a police report, the woman said Hegseth took her phone and “blocked the door with his body,” preventing her from leaving the hotel room. She said she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot” to him. Hegseth told investigators he had sex with the woman, but it was consensual. He later paid the woman a settlement in an undisclosed sum. In exchange, she signed a nondisclosure agreement. Hegseth made the payment to save his career, since the matter “would result in his immediate termination from Fox,” Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told The Washington Post.
“It’s frankly an insult and really troubling that Mr. Trump would nominate someone who has admitted he paid off a victim who has claimed rape allegations against him,” Duckworth said. “This is not the kind of person you want to lead the Department of Defense.”
Duckworth also expressed worry that Republicans in the Senate are prepared to approve not just Hegseth but Trump’s other nominees.
“I’m deeply concerned that they will green-light [anyone Trump nominates],” she said. “From what I’m hearing from my Republican colleagues on everything from defense secretary to other posts, it sounds like they are ready to roll over for Mr. Trump.”
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