Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a military veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon is dangerously unqualified to run an Applebee's restaurant. He said that he has less management experience than he does as a person. .
“The average Applebee's executive has probably managed more people than Pete Hegseth,” Duckworth said at a Friday press conference, referring to President Trump's nominee to head the Pentagon. .
Mr. Duckworth's sharp criticism came just days before Mr. Hegseth is scheduled to testify at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
“Pete Hegseth's nomination as Secretary of Defense is dangerous. The Secretary of Defense is a very important job, and we all agree that it would be a dangerous decision for all of us to have someone as dangerously unqualified as Mr. Hegseth in the job.” “It's scary,” she told reporters, previewing the challenges Hegseth will face before next week's military committees.
Democratic senators argued that President Trump had hired a “TV personality” who lacked sufficient experience to lead the roughly 3 million military and civilian personnel.
“I'd like to know what the biggest budget he's ever run is. You're talking about the Department of Defense, which has a budget of over $830 billion,” Duckworth said.
She said the largest organization Hegseth likely led was an infantry platoon, “at most 40 people.”
She also called him “the most unqualified candidate ever chosen for this role.”
Duckworth held a press conference to voice his concerns about Trump's nominee, insisting that his opposition to Hegseth was not motivated by politics, but rather what his confirmation would mean for national security. .
She complained that Republican Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, would likely be the only Senate Democrat to meet with Hegseth before his hearing.
“I want to ask him a lot of questions. There are more questions than can fit into the mere seven minutes each senator is given during the hearing,” she said.
Duckworth also noted that rank-and-file Democrats on the Armed Services Committee may not have had the opportunity to fully consider FBI background checks on nominees. This investigation is considered by the Democratic Party to be important in evaluating the 2017 allegations of sexual assault and mismanagement of national public servants. Concerned Veterans for America, an advocacy group.
Hegseth strongly denies the assault allegations and dismissed claims of unprofessional conduct and mismanagement at CVA as defamatory.
“I don't think we'll be able to see the FBI investigation before the hearing,” Duckworth said.
“I know that I and other Senate Democrats have requested access to FBI background reports,” she said.
“Before we went on vacation, Republicans had indicated that we could meet with them, but now it seems like all they are looking at is the Ranking Member and the Speaker, and the rest of us are not meeting with them. We won't be able to see each other,''' she said of the FBI's findings.
