President-elect Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. Hexhep, how are you feeling about the process so far?
00:06I was re-meeting with Senator Joni Ernst yesterday.
00:10What did President-elect Trump tell you, Mr. Hexhep?
00:12He's behind us all the way.
00:14I spoke to him this morning.
00:16Do you think you have the votes to get confirmed?
00:18That's why we're here, to meet with senators.
00:20It's been a wonderful process.
00:22There's an incredible amount of knowledge in the U.S. Senate,
00:26the Senate Armed Services Committee,
00:28the women who have studied these issues,
00:30have invested their lives in it,
00:32and as someone who's hoping to earn their support
00:34as the nominee for Secretary of Defense,
00:36I welcome that knowledge, I welcome that advice,
00:39and that's why we're here.
00:41I know that there's allegations out there.
00:43They have been unsubstantiated at this stage of the game.
00:46I talked to him about that.
00:48I gave him some suggestions, some advice
00:50about how he might be able to handle that.
00:52I'm looking forward to getting information from him
00:55in terms of responding to those allegations,
00:58but I really do see a path forward for him
01:00to be successful in being accepted by the Senate
01:04for this position, but he's got more work to do.
01:07I think he's capable of doing that,
01:09and I think the open hearings will help
01:13so that he can respond publicly
01:15to the allegations that have been made.
01:17Pete Hexhep went a long way today, in my opinion,
01:20in getting my full support,
01:22but I want him to be able to answer in front of everybody else
01:25the questions that are there and to do a good job on it,
01:28and that was my advice to him was come prepared,
01:30be prepared to answer the questions,
01:32but look, I really think the president's got the right approach
01:36in this particular nominee in terms of his vision
01:39for making the Department of Defense more lethal.
01:42I think that's what the American people want.
01:44So I just had a great meeting with Pete,
01:47the next Secretary of Defense.
01:49I'll tell you why I support him.
01:51I admire people that are willing to put on the uniform
01:54and lead troops into battle.
01:56I'm very proud of my father.
01:58He's one of 3,000 people that did all four combat jumps
02:00with the A2 Airborne and after that fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
02:03I'm very proud of him.
02:05Same way I'm proud of Pete.
02:07There's not a lot of Americans that have been willing to put on the uniform
02:10and have actually led troops in battle and brought them back safely
02:13and knows people that lost their lives,
02:16knows people that are injured.
02:18When he goes to the Department of Defense,
02:20he's going to begin with the mentality that he's going to take care of our warfighters.
02:23He's going to make sure they have the right equipment
02:25and are not put in harm's way when they shouldn't be put in harm's way.
02:28He's not going to support forever wars.
02:30He's not going to support going into battle where we don't even have a plan.
02:34So I think he's going to do a great job.
02:36I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he's confirmed as the Secretary of Defense.
02:39I think we all have to really appreciate the people
02:44that are willing to put on the uniform and defend the freedom of this country.
02:48Thank you very much.