Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be secretary of defense, is now open to women serving in combat and gays in the military.
Hegseth's reversals come as he attempts to win support from Republican senators amid allegations of alcoholism, financial mismanagement, and sexual misconduct, claims he has denied.
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He previously called allowing gays and transgender people to serve in the military part of a "Marxist" agenda but said Thursday he thought gays should serve in the military, Politico reported.
He also previously said women should not serve in combat, but moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, told reporters Hegseth backpedaled on his previous opposition to women in combat in their meeting this week.
"I'm straight up just saying, we should not have women in combat roles," Hegseth said in an interview last month.
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In an interview this week, Hegseth said women were some of our greatest warriors.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., also said Hegseth was now supportive of women serving in combat.
A spokesperson for the Trump transition team told Politico Hegseth wants the military to focus on prioritizing strength rather than diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
"Like President Trump, Pete wants to see the U.S. military focus on being the world's strongest fighting force — not on cultural and social issues," Brian Hughes said. "If you can meet the standards, you can serve. But given the threats we face, our priorities shouldn't be lowering standards and wasting taxpayer money to meet arbitrary social quotas. Our priorities should be readiness and lethality."
Republican senators said Hegseth's evolving stances were merely part of the confirmation process.
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"I heard he was changing his tune a little bit on women in combat," said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to Politico. "Sometimes you make comments that you don't really want to stand by, sometimes, you know, when you're not up for confirmation."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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