WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) questioned Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee today:
Click the image above for the full questioning
Full Transcript:
Senator Jim Banks: “Welcome, Mr. Hegseth. You have conducted yourself very well today. In fact, so well that I believe it is incumbent upon this committee to confirm you ASAP to get you on the job to clean up the mess that we have at the Pentagon, ongoing at this moment because the leadership over the last four years has failed us. In President Biden’s first year in office, the Department of Defense spent over 5 million man-hours on ‘counter extremism’ and diversity training, what you and I might call ‘woke training,’ or DEI. The administration has refused to provide us any more recent data than the first year, but we know [there were] exponentially more man-hours wasted on DEI over the last four-years. I wonder, what do you make of that? What do 5 million man-hours in that first year of Secretary Austin and President Biden’s administrations, what could those 5 million man-hours have been used for?”
Pete Hegseth: “Senator, that is a lot of service members sitting in a lot of briefs, hearing about a lot of threats or political perspectives that might be dangerous that do not comport to threats that actually exist inside the force or ideas that introduce Critical Race Theory or DEI or climate change initiatives that they and their commands have to conform to. Every time one of those happens, it gets pushed down the chain of command. That includes new layers of leadership that have been created under this administration [that are] committed to enforcing those types of DEI and CRT initiatives. We hear 5 million man-hours and that sounds like a lot. The more troubling aspect is how many training hours that takes away from a company commander or battalion commander or wing commander who’s out there trying to maintain their force which is already constrained because of what the Biden administration has down to the defense budget and defense capabilities. So they have to choose between the political prerogatives of the citizens who are demanding more DEI and CRT and gender quotas and the readiness of their forces. I believe this Pentagon is prepared, because of our commander-in-chief, for a Secretary of Defense, should I be confirmed, that is [laser focused] on these issues and is ready to respond. They want to pack their rucksacks and go train because they understand we are in a dangerous world.”
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Sen. Banks: “I think that is a key point because, months later, while the priority of the Biden-Austin led Pentagon was on DEI and woke trainings, one of the biggest embarrassments in American history happened when we lost 13 of our heroes [amid] the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. Secretary Austin testified before the House Armed Services Committee a couple of years ago and, responding to a question from me, he said he had ‘no regrets’ about what happened in Afghanistan. What do you make of that?”
Hegseth: “Senator, it is shameful. They still tout it as the most successful airlift in American history, when the rest of us saw what was laid before our eyes: utter failure, a destruction of military legacy, abandonment of our allies, death of American troops, detriment to our reputation. And then no answers and no accountability on the other side and then what was unleashed because of what happened in Afghanistan. The October 7th attacks, an invasion into Ukraine. The world recognized weakness for what it was. Who bore the brunt for it? The troops on the front line of Abbey Gate doing an impossible job whose external security was the Taliban because there was no actual plan for this under the Biden administration. And yet the only person held accountable in those moments was a Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel who had the courage to stand up and say someone should be held accountable for that. His name is Stew Scheller. No one else involved has ever taken accountability for it. When that microcosm becomes the reality of the perception of the American military or America’s military commitment to victory and success and positive outcomes, the world responds to that. President Trump is going to restore real deterrence by bringing a real warrior culture back, rebuilding our military and ending wars properly, and if we have to fight them, winning them decisively.”
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Sen. Banks: “I served in Afghanistan. You served in Afghanistan. 75 percent of our nation’s veterans disagree with how the withdrawal from Afghanistan was handled, the embarrassment of it. What’s that done, I believe, has directly impacted [the] historic recruitment crisis in this country – without a doubt. You have already talked about that. How do we fix it? How do we bring pride back to wearing the uniform for the next generation and inspire them to do what you and I did and raise our right hand and take that oath in service of our country.”
Hegseth: “It comes back to strong, clear leadership. Patriotic, pro-American leadership that says we are not going to focus at all on the other political prerogatives. We all have political perspectives, I said this before and I will say it again, in uniform none of that matters. You wear green, you wear blue, you bleed red; that’s it. Who you vote for doesn’t matter, but when the perception of that changes then you don’t want people deciding to serve based on a political party in power. That’s a dangerous thing for continuity inside the military. It is fragile right now. President Trump, and if I’m confirmed, with my leadership, we will restore the continuity of an apolitical military that acts decisively and only based on merit. They sound basic but they are fundamental.”
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Sen. Banks: “You and I agree that wokeness is weakness. Mr. Hegseth, do you support racial quotas in recruitment or promotions in the United States military?”
Hegseth: “I do not support any form of racial quota.”
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Sen. Banks: “Do you support affirmative action in the nation’s military academies?”
Hegseth: “Senator, I only support hiring and promoting and admitting the best and brightest, whatever their background is.”
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Sen. Banks: “Mr. Hegseth, [Secretary] Lloyd Austin later went AWOL. He disappeared for days and never told the president. He didn’t even inform the President’s Chief of Staff that he was going into the hospital. Will that ever occur on your watch?”
Hegseth: “No, Senator, I know in any one of my jobs that if I decided to go AWOL for even day or two, in uniform or even around that, would have been a concern.”
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Sen. Banks: “I believe accountability matters. No one to this day has ever, as you said, been held accountable for what happened in Afghanistan. It was embarrassing for this country. It has impacted this country greatly, and I applaud you and President Trump for brining accountability back to our Pentagon.”
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