WASHINGTON – Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) — a combat veteran who served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years and is a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee — issued the following statement Nov. 13 reacting to President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to tap Pete Hegseth to serve as the next secretary of the Defense Department:
“This pick is dangerous, plain and simple. Being secretary of eefense is a very serious job, and putting someone as dangerously unqualified as Pete Hegseth into that role is something that should scare all of us.
“By choosing to put a TV personality with little experience running much of anything in charge of the Defense Department’s almost 3 million troops and civilian employees, Donald Trump is once again proving he cares more about his MAGA base than keeping our nation safe — and our troops, our military families and our national security will pay the price.
“Our troops and our country deserve better. In this moment, my Republican colleagues must recognize the danger that confirming a wholly unqualified secretary of defense nominee would put our country in, stop rolling over for Donald Trump and oppose this nomination.”
Duckworth also had strong words for Hegseth while appearing on CNN to discuss Trump’s pick for defense secretary, according to Newsweek.
Hegseth, a former “Fox & Friends” host who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq, recently on the podcast “The Shawn Ryan Show” to promote his book, “The War on Warriors.” He said he was surprised “there hasn’t been more blowback” on the book, “because I’m straight up just saying, we should not have women in combat roles.”
According to CNN, Hegseth said, “It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. … We’ve all served with women, and they’re great. But our institutions don’t have to incentivize that in places where, traditionally — not traditionally, over human history — men in those positions are more capable.”
Duckworth, a Purple Heart recipient who lost both legs after being shot down in a Blackhawk helicopter while serving with the Illinois Army National Guard in Iraq, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, “This is not the Revolutionary War where there’s some sort of a line in the sand, and combat is on one side, and the rest of us can stay behind the side and that’s not combat.”
The senator said that she would ask Hegseth, “Where do you think I lost my legs? In a bar fight?”
Duckworth added that Hegseth’s comments show “his lack of experience and his lack of suitability for the job … Anybody that truly knows the military knows that we cannot go to war without over 225,000 thousand women who are serving in active duty right now.”
Cabinet members named by the president are normally subject to Senate approval, which would give Duckworth an opportunity to cross-examine Hegseth.
But Trump is seeking to bypass Senate hearings and a floor vote by making recess appointments of his controversial picks, including former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.