Sen. Joni Ernst previously expressed doubts about Pete Hegseth taking on the role of defense secretary.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) has voiced support for President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, following his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
The senator said that she would work with Hegseth “to create the most lethal fighting force” and hold him to his commitments of “auditing the Pentagon, ensuring opportunity for women in combat while maintaining high standards, and selecting a senior official to address and prevent sexual assault in the ranks” if he is confirmed as defense secretary.
Ernst, a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor, had previously expressed doubts about Hegseth taking on the role, following his past comments suggesting that women should not serve in combat roles. Hegseth also faced allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017, which he had denied.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Ernst questioned if Hegseth would support women continuing to serve in combat roles, to which Hegseth responded affirmatively.
“My answer is yes, exactly the way that you caveated it,” he told Ernst. “Women will have access to ground combat roles, given the standards remain high.”
Hegseth stated that he would conduct a review to ensure that the standards “have not been eroded” if he becomes defense secretary.
“That will be part of one of the first things we do at the Pentagon, is reviewing that in a gender-neutral way, the standards, ensuring readiness and meritocracy is front and center,” he said.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) also questioned Hegseth’s stance on women serving in combat roles.
“We have hundreds of women who are currently in the infantry, lethal members of our military serving in the infantry. But you degrade them. You say we need moms, but not in the military, especially in combat units,” she said.
In response, Hegseth emphasized that his views, “recently and in the past, and from personal experience,” stemmed from instances where he’s “seen standards lowered.”
“I have never disparaged women serving in the military. I respect every single female service member that has put on the uniform, past and present,” he said.
Hegseth said that feedback from active service members and his personal instances showed that “in ways direct, indirect, overt and subtle, standards have been changed … to ensure that commanders meet quotas to have a certain number of female infantry officers and infantry enlisted. And that disparages those women who are incredibly capable of meeting that standard.”
Hegseth, 44, is also a combat veteran. According to a copy of his service record shared with The Epoch Times, Hegseth’s unit completed a rotation at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba from June 2004 to April 2005. The base has served as a detention facility for foreign terrorist suspects.
After his Guantanamo Bay deployment, Hegseth’s unit was deployed to Iraq from September 2005 to July 2006. Later, his unit deployed to Afghanistan from May 2011 to January 2012.
Hegseth has authored several books focusing on military and political issues. He has also been a mainstay on Fox News, providing political commentary across the network’s various daytime and primetime programs.
Ryan Morgan and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
