[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 14 (Thursday, January 23, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S318-S319]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Peter Hegseth

  Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to 
support the confirmation of my constituent and friend Pete Hegseth.
  Last week, during his 4\1/2\ hour confirmation hearing, America saw 
exactly why President Trump nominated Pete Hegseth to be our next 
Secretary of Defense. Pete is patriotic, smart. He is an energetic 
leader. His priorities are our warfighters and having their backs by 
focusing the Department of Defense on lethality and competence rather 
than extraneous political and social issues. He is the type of leader 
that can inspire, recruit, and retain the absolute best talent America 
has to offer.
  Despite Pete's qualifications, the mainstream media, desperate to 
derail President Trump and his nominees, has gone after Pete's 
character by airing false and unsubstantiated claims. Take, for 
example, the article published Tuesday, just this week, by the New York 
Times. Despite the salacious and misleading headline in this paper, 
buried beneath 13 paragraphs of slanderous allegations, the Times 
actually disclaims the entire story with a direct quote from the 
supposed victim herself

[[Page S319]]

denying the allegations against Pete, saying:

       There was no physical abuse in my marriage.

  Yet, look at this headline--``Hegseth's Ex-in-Law Claims He Was 
Abusive to Second Wife''--even though, in the same article, the second 
wife disclaims all of this. This isn't journalism. Take a moment to 
think about this. This is a hit job. The New York Times intentionally 
ran with the salacious and debunked account, buried the truth, and 
distorted the lead simply to undermine President Trump and his nominee.
  The New York Times is not alone, unfortunately; NBC News, The Hill, 
Politico, and even the Associated Press all chose to run the same 
salacious false headline instead of the facts.
  Unfortunately, I am not surprised. This is the type of misleading--
and often unequivocally false--reporting that we have learned to expect 
from the left-leaning media.
  The American people remember that the New York Times is the same 
publication that denied and suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story 
leading up to the 2020 election. It is the same paper that endorsed Joe 
Biden in 2020. The same paper that endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024.
  The American people are sick and tired of the deception stemming from 
this alliance between the Democrat Party and the so-called mainstream 
media. This is yet another example of a story published with an aim to 
do harm and despite evidence to the contrary. It is why media has lost 
much of its credibility with the American people who see this article 
for what it is, a desperate, last-minute attempt to generate 
controversy where none exists.
  Pete Hegseth is someone who is going to fix the Pentagon and deliver 
on President Trump's vision of peace through strength. He is exactly 
the type of leader that the Pentagon needs in the face of an 
increasingly complex and escalating security situation that is 
occurring around the world.
  So while I am disappointed, I am not surprised at this 11th hour 
attempt by the media to raise debunked and completely discredited 
falsehoods simply with an aim to derail a confirmation.
  I urge my colleagues to see through this noise, evaluate Pete's 
nomination based on the merits, which is why I plan to vote for Mr. 
Hegseth.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, I want to reiterate what my colleague 
from Tennessee just talked about, the importance of the vote that we 
just took just a few minutes ago--our nominee for new Secretary of 
Defense, Pete Hegseth.
  Now, the procedure is--as we just voted--to close the vote, and now 
we wait 30 hours from just a few minutes ago and have the final vote on 
his nomination, which it looks like that he has the votes of the 
majority to be appointed or sent to the White House to be confirmed as 
the next Secretary of Defense.
  I am on the Armed Services Committee, and I have watched 4 years of 
the destruction of the best military in our world--the United States of 
America.
  It is a shame what has happened. The DEI, the woke agenda that is 
being pushed on the troops in our country, to me, is embarrassing. I am 
a military brat. My dad died on active duty in the military. Awarded 
five Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart at age 17, driving a tank across 
Europe after landing the first day of Normandy.
  We have to change course in our military. And we can talk about 
inflation and pumping gas and the crime and all the things that we are 
having a lot of problems with, but if you don't have a strong military 
to protect our borders and protect the citizens in our country from 
adversaries all over the world, we have problems. And it has to start 
there.
  Pete Hegseth is the choice, the right choice. I like his age; I like 
his demeanor; I like the things he brings to our military. He is 
exciting, and he will energize this military into the next decade. And 
I am excited about that.
  So, hopefully, in about 30 hours, we will vote tomorrow night around 
9:00, and we will vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as our new Secretary of 
Defense.