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.
