| Here are four potential problem areas for Hegseth, based on Tuesday’s hearing: 1. His competency to lead a large agency: Hegseth, at 44, is relatively young for the job. He’s also never led anything close to the size of the U.S. military. A former Fox News host, he led a few dozen soldiers while serving in the military and about 10 people at a nonprofit, The Washington Post’s Alex Horton reports. Democrats outlined accusations of financial mismanagement at two small nonprofits he headed. “I don’t believe that you can tell this committee, or the people of America, that you are qualified to lead them,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut). “I would support you as the spokesperson for the Pentagon.” Hegseth didn’t get a chance to respond directly to that, but earlier he acknowledged he has a lot to learn: “I know I’ve never run an organization of 3 million people with a budget of $850 billion,” he said, “but I do know I’ve led people.” 2. Accusations of sexual misconduct: Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017. He paid his accuser as part of a nondisclosure agreement while maintaining that the encounter was consensual, and on Tuesday he said repeatedly that the accusations against him were false. Police records show that an emergency room nurse contacted police after treating Hegseth’s accuser over concerns that she had been drugged. Those allegations led to the most blistering attacks from Democrats. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) pointed out that even if the encounter in 2017 was consensual, Hegseth was married at the time and had a 2-month-old daughter from another woman. “You had just fathered a child two months before by a woman that was not your wife,” Kaine said. “I am shocked that you would stand here and say you’re completely cleared.” Hegseth didn’t deny that he cheated on his wife, but he maintained that the sexual assault allegation was false. Defending Hegseth sometimes required Republicans to acknowledge his past, rather than deny it. “We’ve all made mistakes,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), noting that he’s seen fellow senators show up drunk to vote. “I’m not a perfect person,” Hegseth said several times throughout the hearing. 3. His alleged drinking: At every organization where Hegseth has worked, including Fox News, colleagues said he drank heavily and it interfered with his work. Two Fox News colleagues saw him downing warm, stale beers at 10 a.m. that had been displayed on set during a holiday segment, The Washington Post’s Michael Kranish, Dan Lamothe, Sarah Ellison and John Hudson reported. Hegseth has been open about his struggles with alcohol after his deployment to Iraq, but he’s recently denied allegations of alcohol abuse. 4. His backtracking: Particularly on whether women should serve in direct combat roles (as recently as last month he said they shouldn’t; he now says they should). Women make up about 20 percent of the military, and Hegseth said women serving in combat jobs could have a chilling effect on recruiting. He also appeared to backtrack on whether he supports waterboarding, which is considered a form of torture. Hegseth seemed most animated at the hearing when talking about how he would end “wokeness” in the military: “If confirmed, I’m going to work with President Trump and this committee to, one, restore the warrior ethos to the Pentagon and throughout our fighting force,” he said. Will he get confirmed? It’s possible, perhaps even likely. Republicans on the Armed Services Committee rallied around him, including Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa), a victim of sexual assault who had questioned Hegseth’s past. She appears to now support him after Trump allies threatened to primary her. It would be a big deal if Republicans voted him down. “It’s not unusual for presidents to have nominees withdraw from the process,” said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, an expert on presidential transitions with the Brookings Institution. “What is unusual is to have someone like Pete Hegseth go all the way to a vote and them have him fail.” Whether Senate Republicans approve him could be a test case for so many of Trump’s other controversial picks that the Senate needs to vote on. Like: - Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick to lead the Education Department, is accused of enabling exploitation of children. She denies the allegations.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health secretary pick, is accused of groping his children’s nanny. Kennedy says he doesn’t remember this.
- Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies, is having her words more closely analyzed, to reveal they echo and sometimes even match Russian disinformation.
- Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, traffics in false theories about the rule of law.
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