WASHINGTON — Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Tuesday pressed Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee, on whether he believes it should be disqualifying to be defense secretary if someone has committed sexual assault — challenging Hegseth’s claims that he’d been “completely cleared” of any wrongdoing amid the allegations he’s faced of sexual assault and infidelity.
Kaine grilled Hegseth about the October 2017 incident in Monterrey, California, involving a woman who accused Hegseth of sexually assaulting her and preventing her from leaving his hotel room. Hegseth has said the encounter was consensual and that he was never charged with a crime. Details are murky, though, as he entered into a nondisclosure agreement with the woman in 2020.
During Tuesday’s high-stakes hearing, Kaine noted Hegseth was still married to his then-second wife at the time of the alleged sexual assault and had just fathered a child by a woman who would later become his third wife.
“I was falsely charged,” Hegseth said. “Fully investigated and completely cleared.”
“So you think you were completely cleared because you committed no crime? That’s your definition of completely cleared?” the Virginia senator replied. “You had just fathered a child two months before by a woman that was not your wife. I am shocked that you would stand here and say you’re completely cleared. Can you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of a child that had been born two months before?”
As Hegseth began talking about being “redeemed by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Kaine noted the defense secretary nominee had admitted to that infidelity before bringing up the sexual assault allegations against him.
“Now, if it had been a sexual assault, that would be disqualifying to be secretary of defense, wouldn’t it?” Kaine asked.
Hegseth did not answer the question directly, instead couching his response in regard to the allegations against him specifically. “It’s a false claim then and a false claim now,” he replied. Kaine repeated his question, but Hegseth again called it a “false claim” and “a hypothetical.” The senator still didn’t let up.
“So you can’t tell me whether someone who has committed a sexual assault is disqualified from being secretary of defense?” Kaine said.
“Senator, I know in my instance, and I’m talking about my instance only, it was a false claim,” Hegseth said sternly.
The Virginia Democrat later asked Hegseth if he had nondisclosure agreements in connection with his first two divorces and whether he would agree to release his former wives from those agreements to speak openly about their marriages to him. Hegseth said he wasn’t aware of such agreements, but Kaine suggested he had something to hide.
“Did you ever engage in any acts of physical violence against any of your wives?” Kaine said.
“Senator, absolutely not,” Hegseth replied.
“But you would agree with me that if someone had committed physical violence against a spouse, that would be disqualifying to serve as secretary of defense, correct?” Kaine said.
“Senator, absolutely not have I ever done that,” Hegseth said, calling the question a “hypothetical.”
Kaine went on to bring up allegations about Hegseth showing up drunk at work when he worked at a nonprofit veteran organization and at Fox News. (Trump’s transition team has previously called these allegations “completely unfounded and false.”)
“You would agree with me, right, that if that was the case, that would be disqualifying for somebody to be secretary of defense?” Kaine asked.
“Senator, those are all anonymous, false claims,” Hegseth said before Kaine interjected.
“They’re not anonymous,” Kaine said. “One of your colleagues said that you got drunk at an event at a bar and chanted, ‘Kill all Muslims.’ Not anonymous, we have this.”
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“Isn’t that the kind of behavior that, if true, would be disqualifying for somebody to be secretary of defense?” the senator added.
“Senator, anonymous, false charges,” Hegseth said flatly.
“They’re not anonymous,” Kaine replied before wrapping up his remarks.