Multiple lawmakers grilled Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for his defense secretary, about his stance on women in the military during a confirmation hearing Tuesday held by the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
WATCH: Pete Hegseth testifies at Senate confirmation hearing for defense secretary
Hegseth, a military veteran and conservative media personality, has frequently said he opposes women serving in combat roles and argued that it makes the military less lethal.
He voiced his opposition as recently as early November on the Shawn Ryan Show. “I’m straight up saying that we should not have women in combat roles,” Hegseth said on the podcast. “It hasn’t made us more effective.”
WATCH: ‘You’re not qualified,’ Duckworth tells Hegseth in confirmation questioning
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as well as Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, questioned his past comments.
“There is no U.S. military as we know it” without women, Duckworth said.
Women make up over 17 percent of the active duty force, according to a U.S. Department of Defense report released in 2023.
READ MORE: Takeaways from Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing
Hegseth denied that he believed women did not belong in combat and said his concerns were about “standards.”
When asked if he would continue to support women serving in combat roles, Hegseth said women would still have access to ground combat roles.
“It would be the privilege of a lifetime, if confirmed, to be the secretary of defense for all men and women in uniform,” he said.
