America's Talking - Hegseth Grilled on Sexual Assault Allegations, Nonprofits at Confirmation Hearing

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

(The Center Square) – For more than four hours Tuesday, Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth fielded questions regarding both his professional qualifications and personal character during a heated hearing before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. Pam Bondi, Doug Burgum, Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem, and other nominees also began their confirmation hearings in the Senate this week.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxRead more: Hegseth grilled on sexual assault allegations, nonprofits at confirmation hearingRubio: U.S. foreign policy must serve national interestsWATCH: Both sides raise concern of weaponized Justice Department at Bondi hearing Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to America in Focus, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulib, Chief Content Officer at Franklin News Foundation, publisher of the Center Square Newswire service. Confirmation hearings began this week in the U.S. Senate for a number of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks, Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, and others faced tough questioning from Democrats at the U.S. Capitol. Joining me to discuss this today is Casey Harper, Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief for the Center Square.

Casey, much of the tough questioning is more political theater than anything substantive. How do you think Trump's nominees have held up so far? You know, I think they've done surprisingly well, actually, Dan. There's been a lot of hullabaloo, a lot of media firestorm around some of his nominees when he first announced them before Christmas. But it seemed that Trump just rode out the storm. I mean, he was pressured to withdraw some of those nominees. You mentioned, Hexeth took some fire. face some allegations. The only one who didn't ride out the storm, of course, was Matt Gates.

The pick to be attorney general. It just was too strong. And Trump, you know, eventually Gates withdrew his own name. Who knows what pressure was behind the scenes to make him do that or not. But that pig didn't survive. But there's this kind of sense in D.C. Dan, that if the nominees can get past that initial wave of criticism, then there's a good chance. chance they're going to get nominated. And I think that's really what's happening here. Some of the candidates, or some of the nominees were pretty solid and all they had to do was not make a mistake. You know, Doug Bergam for Interior, Lee Zeldon for EPA, who's, you know, kicked off their confirmation this week, their confirmation hearings this week. They were pretty solid choices and

they just had to not say anything ridiculous. And so I think they have a really good chance of getting confirmed. Then there was the more controversial pigs. You mentioned Pam Bondi and Pete Higgis they were facing a lot more skepticism from the Senate. And they had to face a lot of tough questions this week in their hearings. But by many accounts, they really knocked it out of the park. They were sharp. They took some very hard questions and answered them well. I mean, I think that if Hague Seth or Bondi had done poorly in these hearings,

it could have been over for them. But they both performed really well. I mean, and that was, you know, that's not just my analysis. That was kind of a consensus. So I think that they both have a good chance. And one thing to look at here is apparently Joni Ernst and the Senate has said she will vote for Pete Hegson, which is huge for him. She was a potential Republican holdout that could have sunk Hegsa's chances. But with her support, I think Pete has a good chance of getting the position.

Yes. So Republicans have just the smallest majorities in the U.S. Senate. any defectors could sabotage Trump's nominees. But I agree with you. The headseth hearings from this week, he was grilled, not just on, you know, his experience and qualification for the job on his personal issues from his past, past issues with alcohol, accused of sexual assault, never charged with the crime, but there were allegations about it. But he really, he stood his ground, I thought.

I don't see how any of the folks who went through confirmation hearings this week are not confirmed. I could be wrong. You don't know until the votes happen. And then Pam Bonnie, who as you mentioned, replates Matt Gates as Trump's Attorney General nomination. She was grilled on a number of her policy positions in the past, but she also held up pretty strong. I think Christy Noam is up today for Department. of Homeland Security, replacing Alejandro Mayorkas, who underwent a controversial four-year term in the Biden administration

because of the ongoing border crisis. Noam's hearing in the Senate committee is today. What do you expect there? Yeah, I mean, because this is such a big issue, the border for Trump, I think Democrats are going to be pretty aggressive on this one. I think they're going to want to know, you know, some questions. we've seen already is if Trump orders you to do something that disobeys the Constitution, will you stand up to him? It's kind of a funny question, but that's one Democrats have liked

to throw out there so far. I think they're also going to want to know, like, how are you going to protect children? They're going to ask about family separation policy, you know, and basically the detainment of or separation of children at the border. Now, Trump gets a lot of blame for this, even though Obama, you know, enacted similar policies, you know, the kids in cages, the whole line surrounding that. So I think she's going to have to do some apologetics for the Trump administration on those policies. But I think, you know, again, if Heggseth and Bondi seem like they're making it through, Nome is doing just fine, I think, unless she, you know, has some big foe paw today. And I think what's interesting, we're just in this new era of nominees and judicial, Senate hearings. I really,

I think really ever since Brett Kavanaugh, of course, years ago, faced his, yeah, he for the Supreme Court, he faced all those allegations. He seemed possible like he was, you know, dead in the water. And there was his uprising in this kind of defiance. And it reset the parameters on what it takes to get someone out of a Senate confirmation hearing. Because before Kavanaugh, really, it just took some bad media reports and some quote unquote controversy to have your confirmation pool. But ever since Kavanaugh, it's been a much, you know, a much different battle in the Trump world when they're really pushing for some. someone. These senators have to have a good reason, especially Republican senators. They face a lot of pressure to confirm these MAGA picks. And, you know, I think that Noam, as long as she doesn't, you know, slip up too much, she's going to be okay. Among the least contentious hearings from this week, Casey, was that of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio nominated to be U.S. Secretary of State. He seems like he's got a clear path to be confirmed. Not anywhere. year is hard of questioning from Democrats in that hearing.

Yeah, I mean, Rubio is well liked in the Senate. He's seen as more moderate than Trump. And he really is an expert on the issue he was chosen to be a part of him. He's been working on foreign policy issues for a long time. He is an expert. He's done a lot on China. And one thing that the Democratic senators wanted to hear from Rubio and he gave to them was that he would seek concessions from Russia.

There's this fear among Democrats that Trump will be so, hurried to end the Russia-Ukraine war, that he'll just give Russia whatever it wants. And Rubio, I think, put some of those fears at ease when he said he will seek concessions that basically telegraphing that Russia is not just going to get the whole farm when this ceasefire is negotiated. Now, how much that's really true and how much Rubio is going to be able to pull that off, of course, no one will know until it happens. But I think that eased a lot of Democrats' concerns.

and I agree with you that he seems on track to get the job. Thank you for joining us today. Casey, listeners can keep up with all things confirmation process at the center square.com.