Sen. Tim Kaine mentioned he pushed Protection Secretary-nominee Pete Hegseth about infidelity and sexual misconduct in a listening to final week as a result of he believed it was the one solution to get Republicans to contemplate voting in opposition to him.
Talking Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Kaine (D-Va.) mentioned: “My observation of my Republican colleagues is the only reason they ever vote no on a nominee is either a belief of gross incompetence in terms of qualifications or serious character deficit.”
For instance, Kaine cited the case of then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), whose probabilities to be President-elect Donald Trump’s legal professional common have been shortly scuttled by private scandal.
In Hegseth’s Senate listening to Tuesday, Kaine requested at one level: “You acknowledge you cheated on your wife and that you cheated on the woman by whom you had just fathered a child?”
The Virginia senator additionally raised issues a couple of 2017 incident in California through which a lady accused Hegseth of sexual assault. “I know in my instance it was a false claim,” Hegseth mentioned in response.
On Sunday, Kaine mentioned Senate Democrats had divvied up subjects to deal with since Hegseth wouldn’t meet with them. He additionally mentioned he thought the questioning was efficient.
“I think overall, in the hearing, we put a lot of material on the table for folks to consider,” he advised host Margaret Brennan.
These questions don’t appear to have created a lot concern about his nomination amongst Senate Republicans, who’ve a 53-47 majority. Actually, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) endorsed Hegseth after the listening to, saying: “Our next commander in chief selected Pete Hegseth to serve in this role, and after our conversations, hearing from Iowans, and doing my job as a United States senator, I will support President Trump’s pick for secretary of Defense.”
Regardless. Kaine nonetheless discovered a lot to not like concerning the nominee.
“I believe he would be a very dangerous secretary of Defense,” Kaine mentioned Sunday.
