Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump‘s secretary of protection nominee, attended his affirmation listening to in entrance of the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 14, 2025. Throughout the televised session, the previous Fox & Friends weekend co-host was grilled on his previous controversies, together with sexual assault allegations, infidelity and extra. So, the query stays: was Hegseth, 44, confirmed to steer the Pentagon for Trump’s presidency? Find out beneath.
Was Pete Hegseth Confirmed?
No, Hegseth has not been confirmed but to develop into the following U.S. secretary of protection. He opened the January 15 listening to by thanking the committee members for the chance to reply their questions.
“Should I be confirmed, I sit up for working with this committee — senators from each events — to safe our nation,” Hegseth stated in his opening assertion. The former Army National Guard officer additionally acknowledged that he doesn’t “have an analogous biography to protection secretaries of the final 30 years.”
“But, as President Trump additionally instructed me, we’ve repeatedly positioned folks atop the Pentagon with supposedly ‘the appropriate credentials’ — whether or not they’re retired generals, lecturers, or protection contractor executives — and the place has it gotten us?” Hegseth prompted the committee, earlier than including, “He believes, and I humbly agree, that it’s time to present somebody with mud on his boots the helm. A change agent. Someone with no vested curiosity in sure firms or particular packages or permitted narratives.”
When Will Pete Hegseth Be Confirmed?
It’s presently unclear when — or if — Hegseth shall be confirmed to steer the Pentagon. The Senate Armed Services Committee was apparently divided over confirming him, as a number of members pressed Hegseth over his controversial remarks about ladies within the army.
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Jeanne Shaheen pointed to varied previous feedback that Hegseth made, during which he questioned a lady’s functionality of becoming a member of fight. In response to this, Hegseth insisted, “I respect each single feminine service member that has placed on the uniform previous and current. My critiques, senator, just lately and prior to now, and from private expertise, have been situations the place I’ve seen requirements lowered [for women to join combat].”
Senator Tim Kaine went as far as to resurface Hegseth’s previous infidelity, noting, “You have admitted that you simply had intercourse whilst you have been married to spouse two, after you simply had fathered a baby by spouse three,” referring to Hegseth’s second spouse, Samantha Deering, and his present spouse, Jennifer Rauchet.
If you or anybody you understand has been sexually abused, name the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). A skilled employees member will present confidential, judgment-free assist in addition to native assets to help in therapeutic, recovering and extra.