Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has come to blows with defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth over reports of his infidelity, public drinking and on-duty intoxication, and questions about Hegseth's character and judgment. I pressed on repeatedly.
Kaine highlighted a sexual encounter between Hegseth and a woman at a Republican women's event in Monterey, Calif., in 2017, which Hegseth tried to dismiss as a “false charge.” , has previously admitted to what he called “consensual” sexual contact.
“You were still married to your second wife at that time, right?'' Kane asked. “And you just had a child with the woman who would become your third wife, right?”
“Senator, I was wrongly accused, thoroughly investigated and completely exonerated,” Hegseth insisted.
“So you think you're completely exonerated because you didn't commit the crime. Is that your definition of clear? Two months ago you had an affair with a woman who is not your wife. You just had a baby, and you stand here and say you're completely innocent, and you cheat on your second wife, you cheat on the mother of your child, who was born two months ago, and you're completely innocent. I'm shocked to tell you what happened to us.
“How's that all clear?” Kane demanded.
Hegses rebelled by naming his child and calling her “Son of God.”
“And you betrayed her mother less than two months after she was born?” Kane asked.
“You admitted to having sex at that hotel in October 2017. You said it was consensual. Is that correct?” he wrote in a police report filed at the time in Monterey County. I asked, referring to it.
“You admitted that you had sex with Wife 2 while you were married, and you had just had a child with Wife 3,” Mr Kane said.
The Virginia senator then asked Hegseth whether he had committed sexual assault and whether that disqualified him from serving as secretary of defense.
“That's a false claim and we're talking about a hypothetical,” Hegseth responded.
Kaine then asked Hegseth if he took an oath to remain faithful in his marriage, just as he would swear to support and defend the Constitution if confirmed to lead the Pentagon.
Hegseth admitted, “I have made mistakes in life, but thankfully I am saved by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Mr. Kaine pressed further on whether the candidate had ever committed an act of physical violence against a spouse.
“Absolutely not,” Hegseth said.
Kaine then asked if Hegseth agreed that if someone assaults a spouse, that person should be disqualified from serving as secretary of defense.
“Senator, you're talking hypothetically,” Hegseth said.
“I don't think that's hypothetical. Spousal violence happens every day, and if you don't have the ability as a leader to say that physical violence against a spouse disqualifies you as a secretary. [of Defense] As a member of the most powerful nation in the world, you have shown an astonishing lack of judgment,” Kaine declared.
Kaine then moved on to the intoxication allegations against Hegseth, making the startling claim that Democratic senators have seen the names of people making these allegations, even if they are not publicly known.
When Hegseth tried to dismiss the claims as “all anonymous false claims,” Kane insisted, “They're not anonymous.”
“One of your colleagues said you got drunk at a bar event and chanted 'kill all Muslims.' ), you said you took a co-worker to a strip club, he was drunk, he tried to dance with a stripper, and you had to be removed from the stage,'' Kane said.
“One of the employees involved in that incident filed a sexual harassment complaint as a result,” he said. “If that's true, wouldn't that be disqualifying behavior for the Secretary of Defense?”
Hegseth again insisted that it was an anonymous false accusation.
“You claim this was all anonymous. We've seen records with names attached to all of this, including your own mother's name. So you're claiming that this was all anonymous. We have seen the names of colleagues who have spoken out about your abusive behavior many times throughout your career,” Kaine said, referring to Sen. Dan Sullivan. (R-Alaska) interrupted by pointing out that he had run out of question time, and concluded his remarks.
