Sen. Tammy Duckworth is a combat veteran. She came prepared to question Hegseth.

"This is basic, 101 stuff for someone who wants to be secretary of defense, and he couldn't answer any of them."

by Grace Panetta, 19th News, January 16, 2025

Sen. Tammy Duckworth questions Pete Hegseth during his Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing on January 14, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week for a high-stakes and at many times contentious confirmation hearing. 

Many Democrats focused on Hegseth’s personal controversies and past allegations of misconduct, which he vigorously denied, or his past comments opposing women serving in combat, which he backtracked on. 

But some of the most striking and revealing exchanges were with Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, an Iraq War veteran who served in combat as a helicopter pilot. When asked by Duckworth to name one of the agreements the secretary of defense personally negotiates, he couldn’t name one. He also couldn’t name a country in ASEAN, an intergovernmental association of 10 Southeast Asian countries that includes key U.S. military allies. 

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