Senators say Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth will be closely scrutinized at confirmation hearings

Senators from both parties are expecting tough confirmation hearings for both Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who was nominated to become the next director of national intelligence (DNI), and Pete Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer and veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, and most recently a Fox News host who is up for secretary of Defense. 

Republican Senator James Lankford, Okla., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on CNN that his panel will have “lots of questions” for Gabbard, who serves in the Army reserves, citing her meeting as a congresswoman with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, according to The Epoch Times. 

“She met with Bashar Assad. We’ll want to know what the purpose was,” he said. “We’ll want to get a chance to talk about past comments that she’s made and get them into full context.” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., expressed similar concern, saying “I do think that we have a real deep concern whether or not she’s a compromised person.”  

The other Republican senator from Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, told CNN that Gabbard could easily pass a background check. “There’s no document, there’s no background there for her to see, for anyone to see. She is a true patriot of the United States, and there’s no reason why the Democrats are going after her other than the fact they’re upset that she left their woke party.”

Duckworth also went after Hegseth, calling him “unqualified” to lead the Pentagon. But Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Haggerty came to Hegseth’s defense on ABC’s “This Week.”

He called him a “very talented individual” and argued that the claims of sexual assault against him are just “allegations.” He pointed to “a huge recruitment problem, a huge retention problem in the military,” and said that Hegseth might help to boost recruitment and retention in the military. 

“That’s the type of inspirational leader we need to see. Don’t let these allegations distract us. What we need is real, significant change,” Hagerty said. “The Pentagon has been more focused on pronouns than they have lethality the past four years. We need to get back to business, and I think Pete is just the person to do it.”

Confirmation hearings for all of Trump's Cabinet nominees are expected to begin once the 119th Congress is sworn in on January 3, 2025.