Hegseth: ‘I Support Israel Destroying, Killing Every Last Member of Hamas’

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

Pete Hegseth speaking at the 2020 Student Action Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida.

(JNS) U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon faced tough questions from Democrats at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday about his drinking, allegations of sexual misconduct and comments about the role of women in the military.

A former Fox News host and retired Army major who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pete Hegseth denied the allegations from Democrats on the Senate Committee on Armed Services about his personal conduct and said they were part of a “coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media.”

“I’m willing to endure these attacks, but what I will do is stand up for the truth and for my reputation—false attacks, anonymous attacks, repeated ad nauseam, printed ad nauseam as facts,” he said.

Hegseth’s nomination is expected to be one of the most contentious of Trump’s picks to get through Senate confirmation given his background as a Fox News firebrand, who has been deeply critical of Democrats and “woke” diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the military, as well as accusations about his personal life.

Hegseth said at the hearing that he had been “completely cleared” of a 2017 sexual assault allegation that resulted in no criminal charges. In 2020, Hegseth paid a legal settlement to the accuser over the encounter at a California hotel, which his lawyer told the Associated Press was consensual.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said that Hegseth’s account of the events nonetheless raises questions about his integrity.

“You had just fathered a child two months before by a woman that was not your wife,” Kaine said. “I am shocked that you would stand here and say you’re completely cleared. Can you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of a child that had been born two months before, and you tell us you are completely cleared?”

Hegseth, 44, has been married three times. His fourth child was born to the woman who is now his wife, a Fox News producer, in August 2017. He was still married at the time to his second wife, who filed for divorce in September of that year. The encounter, which Hegseth’s lawyer said was consensual, occurred one month after that, in October 2017.

In a 2023 interview with Nashville Christian Family Magazine, Hegseth said he had renewed his Christian faith in 2018 after he and his third wife joined their congregation in New Jersey.

Hegseth alluded to that faith in his response to Kaine.

“I have failed in things in my life, and thankfully, I’m redeemed by my lord and savior, Jesus Christ,” he said.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) accused Democrats on the committee of being hypocritical in asking Hegseth about drinking and marital infidelity.

“How many senators have shown up drunk to vote at night?” Mullin asked. “Don’t tell me you haven’t seen it, because I know you have. And then how many senators do you know have got a divorce for cheating on their wives?”

“It is so ridiculous that you guys hold yourself as this higher standard, and you forget you got a big plank in your eye,” he added. “We’ve all made mistakes.” (The New Testament directs adherents to mind the “plank” in their own eyes before worrying about splinters in the eyes of others.)

A focus on China

The questioning was divided along partisan lines, with Republicans indicating they would support Hegseth’s nomination and Democrats arguing that he is unqualified.

The start of the hearing was also repeatedly interrupted by an anti-Israel heckler who accused Hegseth of being a “Christian Zionist” who supports “genocide.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) asked Hegseth about those claims.

“The first one accused you of being a ‘Christian Zionist’—I’m not really sure why that is a bad thing,” Cotton said. “I’m a Christian. I’m a Zionist. Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people deserve a homeland in the ancient Holy Land where they’ve lived since the dawn of history.”

“Do you consider yourself a Christian Zionist?” Cotton asked.

“I’m a Christian, and I robustly support the State of Israel and its existential defense, and the way America comes alongside them as their great ally,” Hegseth said. “I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas.”

Israeli media reported that Steve Witkoff, Trump’s pick for Middle East envoy, pressured Israel to accept the current proposed ceasefire-for-hostages deal, which according to critics, including Israeli lawmakers, doesn’t do enough to eradicate Hamas.

If confirmed, Hegseth said that he intends to redirect the Pentagon “behemoth” away from protracted conflicts in the Middle East to focus on the U.S. confrontation with China.

“We’re gonna start by ensuring the institution understands, as far as threats abroad, the Chinese Communist Party is front and center, also obviously defending our homeland as well,” he said.