Pete Hegseth faces his first Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, before the Senate Armed Service Committee at 5:30 a.m. Alaska time.
He will make his case for becoming the Secretary of Defense in the Trump Administration in a committee that Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Marine veteran, serves on. Legacy media says the hearing will be “grueling.”
In advance of the hearing, at 9 a.m. Eastern time, a group of supportive Navy SEALs will meet at the Vietnam Memorial Wall and march to some of the war memorials around Washington, D.C., concluding their march near the U.S. Capitol, where they will hold a rally for Hegseth. Some 500 Navy SEALs are signed up to attend the event to support Hegseth, who is a combat veteran, author, public speaker, and Fox News contributor.
Pete Hegseth, who has met recently and separately with Sen. Dan Sullivan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, was accused of sexual assault years ago in a case that is difficult to prove. The local prosecutors chose not to prosecute it due to flimsy evidence. Hegseth has also been accused of abusing alcohol. He says that was years ago and he is a different person now.
SEALS and other veterans will fill the room where the first confirmation hearing will take place.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi is the Republican Chairman of the committee and Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island is the leading Democrat. The Democrats are expected to launch a full-scale assault on Hegseth over the sexual assault allegations, as well as his commitment to the Trump agenda, which they oppose.
Some of the leading Democrats include Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a foe of Trump, and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona. The full committee membership is at this link.
Watch the hearing at this link.
