Sen. Blumenthal grilled SecDef nominee Pete Hegseth on his qualifications despite reaffirming current support for the job SecDef Lloyd Austin has done.

Wicker did not specify what day the vote would take place, but said it could be as late as next Thursday if Senate Democrats do not allow the chamber to speed up the confirmation process.

A senator told Hegseth: "I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations."

Hegseth wants to restore honor to Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, the native North Carolinian whose name was replaced at Fort Bragg last year. | Opinion

Awkward exchanges about the defense secretary hopeful’s past were plentiful as Democrats went after the first embattled Trump pick to face a confirmation hearing.

A telling moment in the supremely depressing Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, the Fox News personality who is Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, came right at the beginning, when the former Republican senator Norm Coleman introduced him.

In what is expected to be the most rigorous confirmation hearing this week, Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for

Pete Hegseth vowed to foster a "warrior culture" at the Pentagon and be a "change agent." He did not address the allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking, focusing instead on his combat experience.

President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, underwent his Senate confirmation hearings on Tuesday, where senators scrutinized his fitness for the role due to his past as a combat veteran and TV host.

Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon endured fierce Democratic grilling over everything from his inexperience, alleged drinking and his past opposition to women in combat to emerge largely unscathed among Republicans at his confirmation hearing.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, said in his Senate confirmation hearing that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel were the direct result of President Biden’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Democrats said Hegseth’s lack of experience, his past comments about women and Black troops and allegations of excessive drinking, and sexual misconduct, make him unfit to serve. Republicans described him as "unconventional" but an “excellent choice.