Duckworth, Senators Question Hegseth Nomination, His Disqualifying Views on Women in the Military

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC)—joined U.S. Senators and fellow SASC members Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) in sending a letter to Susan Wiles, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Chief of Staff, about whether Pete Hegseth’s attitudes toward women and allegations of sexual assault and harassment disqualify him to be the next Secretary of Defense. Full text of the letter can be found on the Senator’s website.

“As Secretary, Mr. Hegseth will set the tone for how women are treated throughout the military and whether women have enough confidence in him to join or remain in the military,” wrote the lawmakers.

“Experts tell us that meeting current recruiting goals and building the cutting-edge force we need for the future requires recruiting more women to the force,” wrote the lawmakers. “If women are treated as second-class citizens and barred from competing for the same opportunities for promotions and leadership as men, the military will lose the talent it has and be unable to recruit the talent it needs, and that will undermine our ability to keep Americans safe. Mr. Hegseth’s ill-informed views ignore the significant role women have played in combat roles for the United States of America. His dismissal of women as warfighters drives away both potential recruits and women who are already serving in the armed forces.”

Mr. Hesgeth has also been under fire for his alleged history of sexual assault and harassment. Last month, according to press reports, the Trump transition team received a memo alleging that Mr. Hegseth “raped a then-30-year-old conservative group staffer in his room after drinking at a hotel bar.” Additionally, when he served as president of Concerned Veterans of America CVA, a whistleblower report alleged that Hegseth and his management team “sexually pursued the organization’s female staffers” and “ignored serious accusations of impropriety, including an allegation made by a female employee that another employee on Hegseth’s staff had attempted to sexually assault her” at a strip club.

Already, the U.S. military's Defense Department continues to report unacceptably high levels of sexual harassment and assault in the military ranks, and it struggles to meet annual military recruiting goals.

“The allegation that Mr. Hegseth sexually assaulted a woman and personally contributed to creating a hostile work environment for female employees raises severe concerns about his ability to address the Department of Defense’s problems with sexual assault,” wrote the lawmakers.

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