'What are you afraid of?' Sen. Tammy Duckworth yells as Pete Hegseth dodges questions
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) literally yelled at defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth as he dodged questions about his fiscal leadership at several veterans organizations.
"Mr. Hegseth, this hearing is about whether you are qualified to be secretary of defense," Duckworth explained during Tuesday's Senate confirmation hearing. "And any sense that the Department of Defense that keeps us safe is being steered by someone who is wholly unprepared for the job puts America at risk."
"With that in mind, Mr. Hegseth, I want you to try to explain to the American people this committee who have to vote for you, and to our troops who are deployed around the world, why you are qualified to lead the Department of Defense," she continued. "We already know that you so badly mangled a budget that after you left, they had to bring in a forensic accountant to figure out what went wrong."
"Have you led an audit of any organization, yes or no? I don't want a long answer. Yes or no."
Hegseth insisted that organizations he led "were always completely fiscally responsible with the money that we had."
"Yes or no, did you lead an audit?" Duckworth pressed.
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"And the way my leadership has been stated has been completely mischaracterized," Hegseth said.
"Yes or no!" the senator shouted. "What are you afraid of? You can't answer this question? Yes or no, did you lead an audit? Do you not know this answer?"
"Senator, every part of my leadership of these organizations has been misrepresented from top to bottom," the nominee stated.
"I will take that as a no," Duckworth concluded.