READY FOR BATTLE

Dems Say Hegseth Hearing Will Get Heated: ‘A Lot of Baggage’

Several senators were also frustrated that they had not been given access to the FBI’s background check on Hegseth, an unusual break in protocol.

Democrats are anticipating a “heated” hearing as they prepare to grill President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, during Tuesday’s confirmation hearing.

Several members of the panel were also frustrated that they had not been given access to the FBI’s background check on Hegseth, an unusual break from previous hearings for Cabinet-level officials.

Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee huddled for a strategy session with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the eve of the hearing Monday, emerging from the meeting asserting they plan to thoroughly question the former Fox News personality and Army veteran on allegations of sexual and financial misconduct and alcohol abuse. Hegseth has vehemently denied wrongdoing.

“There are a lot of very, very troubling questions about the Hegseth nomination,” Schumer said ahead of the meeting, noting that Democrats plan to question him “on just about all of these troubling aspects. He’s a nominee that comes with a lot of baggage.”

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—who recently sent a 33-page letter laying out more than 70 questions for Hegseth—raised concerns over how thorough the FBI report is, noting that it breaks precedent for only the chair and ranking member to have access to the findings.

“We should all be able to see the report, and draw our own conclusions about how incomplete it is,” she told reporters following the meeting. “And even in the modest amount it covers, how much damage it does to Mr. Hegseth.”

Freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat from Michigan, also called for access to the FBI report, stating: “It’s important if you’re going to put someone in charge of a 3-million-person organization, that we have full transparency on anything the FBI collected.”

“You know, you’ve got to have someone with character and competence, and so, yeah, it’s going to be heated, I think,” she said.

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Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) said the report “raises significant questions,” but asserted the panel will be objective in its questioning of Hegseth.

“We’re very well, I hope, prepared to be as balanced and objective as possible and to get the chances to hear on his ability to be secretary of defense, which includes competence running agencies of that narrative character, and also constitutional fidelity,” Reed added.

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Republicans have largely rallied behind Hegseth, who has met with most of his GOP skeptics in the weeks since he was tapped to potentially fill the role. And grassroots efforts ramped up to place pressure on hesitant Republican lawmakers, with money pouring into states like Iowa to turn the heat up on Sen. Joni Ernst after she voiced concerns about his record.

Each senator on the committee will be allotted seven minutes to grill Hegseth during the hearing, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

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Juliegrace BrufkeSenior Political Correspondent

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