Five takeaways from Pete Hegseth hearing

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, has completed his first hurdle on the confirmation process: a lengthy — and sometimes difficult — hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

For more than four hours on Tuesday, Hegseth faced questions about his ability to run the Department of Defense, including its three million employees and budget of $849bn (£695bn). And even he was involved with the Democrats on charges of rape, infidelity and alcoholism At work, most Republicans on the committee appeared to support him.

Opposition from Democrats in a deeply divided Senate means Hegseth can lose just three Republican votes and still be confirmed.

Here’s a look at five key takeaways from Hegseth’s testimony.

From the beginning of his testimony, Hegseth, the warrior, he emphasized what he called the “military Pentagon”, promising to return the Department of Defense to the strength of the American military.

“The fight against war, killing, meritocracy, standards, and planning. That’s it. That’s my job,” he said in his opening remarks.

As the trial progressed, Mr Hegseth was critical of what he saw as a waste of power and the “killing” of the military, an effort to combat racial and gender inequality.

“This is not the time to do things fairly,” he said, adding that he is against quotas, which he says destroy morals.

During the divisive meeting, Democrats repeated Hegseth’s previous comments that women should not serve in the military.

Follow-up questions from Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Mazie Hirono and Elizabeth Warren provided the most heated moments of the morning.

He also spoke about Warren, the senator from Massachusetts, when he tried to make comments about women members who started years ago.

“Mr. Hegseth, I quote you in the podcast: ‘Women should never fight’,” Warren said.

Hegseth remained unmoved, responding by saying that his concern was not about women fighting, but simply about maintaining the “standards” of war.

Hegseth, who at 44 is the youngest secretary in years, also answered questions about his readiness to run the Defense Department, a sprawling agency.

The former Fox News reporter called himself a “reformer”, and said “it’s time to give someone the dust off their boots.”

Some Republicans saw Hegseth’s naivety as a strength.

“I just want to say everything that has happened to me and not from the same parties that Washington is used to, you are a breath of fresh air,” Senator Eric Schmitt, Republican of Missouri, said.

A graduate of Princeton and Harvard universities, Hegseth was a platoon leader in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq, and received the Bronze Star Medal. Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor, also served in the military in Afghanistan.

However, Democrats pressed Hegseth on his qualifications for the top military job. Reports from the US media found that Hegseth’s time under the leadership of two soldiers was not profitable teams ended up in financial trouble.

Former war veteran Tammy Duckworth focused on whether Hegseth had ever overseen an investigation.

“Senator, in all the agencies I’ve run, we’ve always had a financial responsibility,” Hegseth began, before Duckworth stepped in.

“Yes or no? You led the audit? You don’t know this answer?” Duckworth said.

Some experts told the BBC that they were impressed by Hegseth’s description of how to deal with the challenges of war.

Aside from brief mentions of China and the wars in Ukraine and Russia, the senators did not specifically ask Hegseth about the current conflict, nor about other potential military adversaries and rivals.

The high-profile news was “fraught” with questions about Hegseth’s character and abilities, said Mara Karlin, a former assistant secretary of defense for strategy, planning, and capabilities.

“What’s amazing about these lawsuits is that there’s not a lot of focus on the bread and butter of what the secretary of defense is supposed to do, which is protect the nation, and make sure you have a military that can handle conflict,” Karlin said.

The 2017 sexual assault case in Monterey, California, which took place shortly after he told Trump to participate in the Pentagon, came up again and again.

According to a police report, an unnamed woman said Hegseth grabbed her phone and closed the door as she tried to leave her hotel room before he grabbed her.

Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer admitted that Hegseth paid an undisclosed amount to keep quiet about the incident.

On Tuesday, Mr Hegseth hit back at the scandal, criticizing a “vicious joint campaign” orchestrated by the left-wing media. “They want to destroy me.”

But at times during the trial, Hegseth answered questions about his character with statements about his Christian faith.

“I am not a perfect person, but redemption is real,” he said.