The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board praised Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine’s questioning of Pete Hegseth at Tuesday’s Senate confirmation hearing.
At the hearing Kaine pressed Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Trump’s nominee to lead the Defense Department, on his alleged affairs, sexual assault, alcohol abuse and offensive behavior.
“Kaine wanted to know why Mr. Hegseth didn’t disclose to the Trump team a settlement he paid to a woman who accused him of sexual assault,” The Journal’s editorial board wrote. “Mr. Hegseth kept saying he was ‘falsely charged’ but never answered the question.”
Other than Kaine’s questioning, there were no other notable moments from the hearing.
“Democrats mostly played into Mr. Hegseth’s hands with questions he easily parried while Republicans asked little of substance,” WSJ’s editorial board wrote.
“Republicans didn’t do much scrutinizing. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) noted that Senators sometimes show up drunk for votes at night and cheat on their wives, but they aren’t in the chain of command of U.S. military forces,” the board added. “Tim Sheehy (R., Mont.), after opening his remarks by asking how many genders there are, did ask about Navy shipbuilding, to which Mr. Hegseth basically said Donald Trump wants to build ships. No details.”
The board also noted that in the very rare instances where Republican senators pressed Hegseth he gave evasive and “vague” answers with no follow up from Republicans.
