Hegseth on Defense
Confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks kicked off Tuesday with a feisty showdown between Pete Hegseth and Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Hegseth, a veteran and Fox News talking head, is an unorthodox pick to lead the Pentagon. He argued that’s exactly what the Defense Department (which I am obliged to remind you has still never passed an audit) needs. “It’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm,” Hegseth told the committee in his opening remarks. “A change agent.”
Democrats zeroed in on the question of whether Hegseth needed to get his own life in order first. Allegations of marital affairs, heavy drinking, and sexual assault were aired repeatedly by Democrats on the panel. The most firey exchange came from Sen. Tim Kaine (D–Va.), who used those personal issues (breaking oaths, being intoxicated on the job) to ask, effectively, whether Hegseth would be fit for duty.
Toughest moment so far for Pete Hegseth:
Senator Tim Kaine grilling him on his personal conduct. pic.twitter.com/qZOPWb92Fv
— Yashar Ali ???? (@yashar) January 14, 2025
As in the clip above, Hegseth refused to give a straight answer about whether his personal conduct should be disqualifying for a potential Defense Secretary. The most serious allegation against him—the sexual assault claim, which stems from an incident in 2017—ended with no criminal charges being filed and an undisclosed settlement being paid to the woman involved.
Hegseth seems to have done a good enough job of playing defense. Sen. Joni Ernst (R–Iowa), widely seen as the swing vote on the committee, said after the hearing that she would support his nomination. That ought to get Hegseth’s appointment to the Senate floor.
Who’s next? Sen. Marco Rubio (R–Fla.), Trump’s pick to be secretary of state, and Pam Bondi, Trump’s second choice to be attorney general, are both set for confirmation hearings today.
Rubio figures to have a relatively easy path to confirmation—though you can certainly expect Democrats to gleefully pick apart his one-time personal feud with Trump, which culminated with Rubio suggesting that Trump was not well endowed. On the stuff that actually matters, Rubio is likely to face questions about whether he can effectively conduct diplomacy on Trump’s behalf, despite having more interventionist impulses than the president-elect.
Bondi is a prosecutor, lobbyist, and former Florida attorney general. Her confirmation hearing will likely focus on Trump’s plans for sweeping changes at the Justice Department and whether Bondi would use her position to help Trump target his political opponents.
A second IRS. In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced plans to issue an emergency declaration allowing him to create a new “external revenue service” to administer the collection of tariffs and other duties.
That entity already exists: Tariffs are collected and processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Those taxes are not paid by some external entity but by the American-based importers who bring goods into the country.
Still, Trump’s
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