The tough questions Pete Hegseth will face at his Senate confirmation hearing
Share:
Since Trump announced his unorthodox choice to head up the Pentagon, there have been serious questions hanging over the 44-year-old Fox News host. Pete Hegseth is preparing to face a panel of bipartisan senators on Tuesday who will grill him over allegations from his past and his credentials at the first of the Senate confirmation hearings.
![[Questions have been raised as to how Hegseth could manage a trillion-dollar taxpayer-funded budget]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/13/14/6a07abb0689a495480e37b7b7a7a8e6a.jpg)
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Hegseth for one of the most senior jobs in the administration: secretary of defense. But since the day Trump announced his unorthodox choice to head up the Pentagon, there have been serious questions hanging over the 44-year-old Fox News host.
![[Trump has backed Hegseth throughout]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/13/14/1afe5086675c4f938adfa249ba5638e5.jpg)
The president-elect took the step of publicly defending his choice when Hegseth came under fierce scrutiny last month. Last week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Trump that Hegseth has the required number of votes to survive the confirmation process, but he reiterated that the nominees would all have to “make their case in front of the committee.”.
![[Hegseth’s alleged drunken behavior made former colleagues uncomfortable, according to reports]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/15/23/2024-12-12T205844Z_304455671_RC2RNBAR68A8_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-CABINET-SECURITY.jpg)
If every Democrat and independent senator votes against Hegseth, he can only afford three Republican defections to be confirmed. From a serious allegation of sexual assault, which Hegseth denies, and accusations of financial mismanagement and misogyny, to concerns about his inexperience and relationship with alcohol, these are some of the issues that will likely arise for the nominee at Tuesday’s no-holds-barred hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In 2017, police in Monterey, California, investigated an allegation that an intoxicated Hegseth sexually assaulted a woman — named Jane Doe in the report — in a hotel room after a Republican women’s conference, at one point physically blocking a door and stopping her from leaving, according to a police report. The woman signed an NDA.
