Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) offered further criticisms of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
The veteran’s nomination to lead the Department of Defense came as a shock to many, as it would be Hegseth’s first senior position in the federal government. Hegseth will need to win over the Senate in order to be confirmed, where there are few fellow veterans. Duckworth, a veteran herself who lost her legs in combat, previously denounced Hegseth for suggesting that women not serve in combat positions.
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“He was a pretty low-ranking guy in the military, and he never had a command position. He was a platoon leader, I think, once or twice. But he never even commanded a company,” Duckworth said of Hegseth on Face the Nation. “So this is a man who is inordinately unqualified for the position. Remember that the Pentagon is three million service men and women and civilians. It is over a $900 billion budget. He’s never, you know, run anything anywhere near to that size.”
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Duckworth, on the other hand, retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2014. She insisted that Republican senators “need” to pressure Hegseth to take back his comments about women.
The senator also took issue with Hegseth confirming that he paid an anonymous woman a settlement to prevent a lawsuit against him. This woman claims she was drugged and raped, but Hegseth claims it was a consensual encounter. Duckworth expressed her wish that her Armed Services Committee would invite this victim to be questioned by them, but it is unlikely to happen under a Republican chairman in this next Congress.
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“It’s frankly an insult and really troubling that Mr. Trump would nominate someone who has admitted that he’s paid off a victim who has claimed rape allegations against him,” Duckworth said. “This is not the kind of person you want to lead the Department of Defense.”
Hegseth has a Bachelor of Arts in politics at Princeton University and a Master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. During his service, he earned two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge. He served tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.