Defense Secretary-nominee Pete Hegseth's past comments expressing concern about women in the U.S. military serving in combat were revisited by Democrat women senators, but he stressed repeatedly those remarks were about potentially eroding "standards" with regard to "military readiness" for combat.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee that hosted the Hegseth confirmation hearing, has been an advocate for women in the military.
Shaheen noted Hegseth had said publicly, "I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles."
Hegseth has since said more generally he supports women in the military, and even stressed Tuesday he has served with woman in combat who served honorably and bravely.
"Which is it?" Shaheen, who's a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, demanded, adding, "I appreciate your 11th-hour conversion."
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., submitted for the record a chapter of his book "The War on Warriors" that outlines his opposition to women in combat. She also asked whether that meant he did not think the two female senators who served in the military are less capable.
Gillibrand told Hegseth his quotes about women are terrible and harmful to morale.
"You will have to change how you see women to do this job," she said.
Gillibrand asked him for one specific example of standards being changed for women.
Hegseth did not provide one, instead deferring to interviews he had conducted for his book "The War on Warriors," saying that it was what he was told by troops.
A senior defense official said "the standards for military service have not been lowered," and the standards are based on each field and based on ability, not gender — a standard Hegseth acknowledged meaning he is not against women in combat, but those not fit for combat if standards were to be relaxed under gender and equity programs within the Pentagon.
Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, are both combat veterans who sit on the committee.
Freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., served in the intelligence community. And a narrow majority of the Senate Armed Services Committee are women, including a majority of its Democrat members.
Just after her questions, committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., motioned to introduce five testimonials from women who had served in the military in support of Hegseth's nomination.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a military veteran and sexual assault survivor, ended up being far less combative in her exchange with Hegseth.
Ernst was cordial with Hegseth and focused primarily on the Department of Defense passing a financial audit.
Ernst is one of the three critical votes Hegseth cannot afford to lose in his confirmation.
It was over news reports that he had drank on the job while employed at Fox News and elsewhere.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, directly asked Hegseth if he would commit to not drinking while in service, which she called "a 24/7 job," and after a tense back and forth she concluded he would not.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., noted senators vote on the Congress floor while intoxicated and have never called for resignations for those who had.
Information from The Associated Press was used to compile this report.
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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