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Ex-Fox News host Pete Hegseth will call for the return of “American warriors” as he is grilled by the Senate ahead of his likely confirmation as Defense Secretary.
The 44-year-old veteran will face questions on Tuesday about his lack of management experience, his alleged heavy drinking, as well as his previous opposition to women serving in combat roles in the military.
He could also be asked about accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman in a California hotel room in 2017 – something he has denied.
“We are not Republicans or Democrats — we are American warriors. Our standards will be high, and they will be equal,” he will tell the bipartisan panel of senators in his opening statement, Axios reported.
His confirmation hearing comes hours after President-elect Donald Trump blasted special counsel Jack Smith over a landmark report found Trump tried to criminally overturn the 2020 election.
Smith said Trump “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” in the January 6 Capitol riot and knowingly spread a false narrative about fraud in the 2020 election.
Hegseth spent hours preparing for hearing
Pete Hegseth spent several hours yesterday preparing for his hearing. He and his team again reviewed how he should handle hostile questions from skeptical senators.
The hearing room today is filled with Republican allies, MAGA media figures, and supportive veterans.
Megyn Kelly is sitting in the front row.
Watch LIVE: Pete Hegseth Senate confirmation hearing to be secretary of defense
Senate Dems blast ‘significant gaps’ in Pete Hegseth’s FBI background check
Rhian Lubin reports.
Sen. Kelly has concerns about Hegseth’s experience
Speaking to The Independent, Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly says he has concerns about Pete Hegseth’s experience regarding his nomination as Donald Trump’s secretary of defense.
Kelly wants to hear what his other colleagues ask before posing his own questions to Hegseth. He is one of the last senators on the dais in the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Jimmy Kimmel hits out at Trump for ‘disgusting’ response to LA fires
Kimmel becomes the latest late-night host to question the president-elect’s comments on the fires, which have claimed dozens of lives since breaking out in the Altadena and Pasadena areas of Los Angeles.
Trump feuds with comedians and celebrities look all but certain to be a feature of his second term, as they were throughout his first.
Jacob Stolworthy has this one.
Speaker Johnson calls for ‘conditions’ on California wildfire aid
House Speaker Mike Johnson has suggested that lawmakers might attach “conditions” to wildfire aid for California, where blazes in Los Angeles have killed at least 25 and burned hundreds of homes, one of the worst natural disasters in state history.
“I think we’re going to have a serious conversation about that,” Johnson told reporters.
“Obviously there has been water resource mismanagement, forest mismanagement, mistakes, all sorts of problems, and it does come down to leadership.
“It appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. That’s something that has to be factored in.
“I think there should probably be conditions on that aid.”
He also said the aid could be tied into negotiations around raising the debt ceiling.
Josh Marcus reports.
Every key finding from the Trump special counsel report that impacts the president-elect
Here’s a more concise breakdown of what Jack Smith had to say in his final election interference report on Trump, which was released by US Attorney General Merrick Garland at midnight last night.
Trump calls Seth Meyers ‘dumb’ and ‘untalented’ amid latest threats against Comcast
The president-elect has meanwhile been spending his time tackling the real issues that matter: lambasting late-night comedians for making fun of him.
Maddy Sherratt has this report.
Trump says California wildfires have caused ‘greater damage than nuclear weapon’
The president-elect called into Newsmax last night to talk to anchor Rob Schmitt and attempted to be a bit more sympathetic towards the people of Los Angeles, having so far largely spent his time attacking Governor Newsom from the sidelines rather than venturing anything close to consolation.
In a typically wide-ranging but meandering phone-in, Trump promised the mass deportation of illegal immigrants would happen “immediately” once he had taken office, teased the release of hostages in the Middle East while making no definite commitments and said it was “up to Vladimir Putin” when the Ukraine war comes to an end, which will not reassure Volodymyr Zelensky one bit.
Truth Social: Trump backs Hegseth and resumes attack on Newsom
Here’s the latest from Donald Trump on social media this morning, backing Pete Hegseth ahead of his Senate confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill:
He has since renewed his attack on poor old California Governor Gavin Newsom, writing in a second post:
