The Daily
Drunkenness, Women and Wokeness: A Dramatic Confirmation Hearing for Pete Hegseth
Wed, 15 Jan 2025
On Tuesday, the confirmation process for President-elect Donald J. Trump’s cabinet picks kicked off with Pete Hegseth, for the position of defense secretary.Eric Schmitt, who covers U.S. national security, explains how the four-hour hearing unfolded, and what the odds are that Mr. Hegseth will soon be leading the Pentagon.Guests: Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Read four takeaways from the hearing.Here’s how Senate confirmation works.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Full Episode
From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. On Tuesday, the confirmation process for Donald Trump's cabinet began with his most controversial choice, Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. Today... my colleague, national security correspondent Eric Schmidt, on the contentious and dramatic hearing and the odds that Hegseth will soon be running the military.
It's Wednesday, January 15th. Eric, from the moment that Pete Hegseth was nominated to run the Department of Defense, it, as you well know, created a storm of controversy on both sides of the aisle because of the reports of his personal misconduct, because of his views on issues like whether women should be in the military, and because of his lack of traditional management experience.
Everything about him represented a major deviation from the norm of who the Secretary of Defense is, so much so that it looked like Donald Trump might dump him as his choice, but that hasn't happened. So heading into this confirmation hearing, what for you were the big questions about how this very highly anticipated day would unfold?
Well, I think you said it's just amazing how unconventional Pete Hexeth's nomination is. I mean, when his nomination was announced, we all kind of scratched our heads and went, you mean the Fox News anchor, that guy? Right. And, you know, as it turned out, you know, he did have a record. He had run a couple of veterans groups.
And then some of the allegations started seeping out about his misconduct. The Times unearthed a letter from his mother in 2018 saying he treats women terribly. His mom later said that she wrote that letter in anger, but still... Then we learned about an alleged sexual assault in 2017. Right. So these things are starting to pile up.
And then we talked to former colleagues of his who talk about allegations of public drunkenness. I mean, any one of these things, you know, would have been enough to sink... a nominee in another time, but not Pete Hegseth. Right. So going into the hearing, I think there were really three major questions about how it would unfold. The first would be, what do the Democrats do?
Do they recognize this is a foregone conclusion and basically meet Pete Hegseth on his own terms, or do they go to war with him? The second, for Republicans... Do they acknowledge any misgivings at all about Pete Hegseth's conduct, his fitness for the job, his experience, anything at all that would appear to give a crack in their support for him? Or do they just fall in line?
And then the third question is, how would Pete Hegseth carry himself? Again, remember, this is the firebrand Fox News commentator. He's used to being on television and really being hard-edged in the MAGA world. Or do we see a different version of him where he's kind of buttoned up, the Princeton grad, and ready to play nice with Democrats and maybe soften some of their opposition?
You know, which Pete Hegseth shows up in what form, and how does he present himself in this hearing?
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