A senator told Hegseth: "I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations."

Sen. Blumenthal grilled SecDef nominee Pete Hegseth on his qualifications despite reaffirming current support for the job SecDef Lloyd Austin has done.

Defense Secretary Austin will bid farewell Friday following a term that included three major military crises, a global pandemic and a brush with cancer.

Hegseth wants to restore honor to Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, the native North Carolinian whose name was replaced at Fort Bragg last year. | Opinion

Pete Hegseth has made it through his confirmation hearing and now appears to be on a glide path for confirmation as secretary of defense. The hearing, which lasted four hours, subjected Hegseth to questioning before the Senate’s Armed Services Committee in an attempt to gauge the Trump nominee’s worldview and qualifications to run a nuclear-armed entity with a nearly one-trillion-dollar budget.

Awkward exchanges about the defense secretary hopeful’s past were plentiful as Democrats went after the first embattled Trump pick to face a confirmation hearing.

The former combat veteran and TV news show host says he will be a “change agent” and a “warrior” for the department.

Wicker did not specify what day the vote would take place, but said it could be as late as next Thursday if Senate Democrats do not allow the chamber to speed up the confirmation process.

A telling moment in the supremely depressing Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, the Fox News personality who is Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, came right at the beginning, when the former Republican senator Norm Coleman introduced him.

Pete Hegseth must be approved by the GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee before he can go before the full Senate for confirmation.

Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon endured fierce Democratic grilling over everything from his inexperience, alleged drinking and his past opposition to women in combat to emerge largely unscathed among Republicans at his confirmation hearing.

Democrats said Hegseth’s lack of experience, his past comments about women and Black troops and allegations of excessive drinking, and sexual misconduct, make him unfit to serve. Republicans described him as "unconventional" but an “excellent choice.