Sexual assault allegation, women in combat: 5 controversies at Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing
Women in combat
On numerous occasions, Hegseth was asked about his past comments on women in the military, as he has often expressed opposition to having women serve in combat duty roles.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard, asked Hegseth if he would “support women continuing to have the opportunity to serve in combat roles?”
“Yes, exactly the way you caveated it,” Hegseth replied. “Yes, women will have access to ground combat roles given the standards remain high. And we’ll have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded.”
“Reviewing that, in a gender-neutral way, the standards ensuring readiness. And meritocracy is front and center, but absolutely. It would be the privilege of a lifetime, if confirmed, to be the secretary of defense for all men and women in uniform.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., cited instances in which Hegseth had told multiple media sources that he believed women should not be in combat, as it would “erode standards.”
“On each of these quotes, those are said without qualification,” said Warren. “It's not by how much you can lift, or by how fast you can run. They don’t belong in combat period.”
Warren suggested that more recent comments in which Hegseth seemed open to having women on combat duty were because he had been publicly nominated as defense secretary.
