(3 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC – 3 December 2024
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
1. Pete Hegseth walks down Senate office building hallway with his wife, surrounded by press
2. They walk into Senate office, door closes
3. Hegseth walks out of Senate office meeting
4. UPSOUND (English) Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense nominee:
"We’re gonna meet with every senator that wants to meet with us, across the board, and we welcome their advice as we go through the advice and counsel process.
(Reporter: Can you just address really quickly, a lot of folks have been up in arms about those comments you made about women in combat..)
5. Hegseth and press walk around corner, reemerge
6. UPSOUND (English) Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense nominee:
"(Reporter: Do you think they should be in combat?)
I think they’re already in combat.
(Reporter: Mr. Hegseth, do you need to address, do you need to address questions about your character?)
7. Hegseth walks down stairs and out of sight
8. Various shots of Hegseth and his wife walking down Senate office building hallway and into next office
STORYLINE:
Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon was back on Capitol Hill Tuesday for closed-door meetings with Senators as new allegations of misconduct surfaced.
Hegseth, a former Fox News show host, is an Army National Guard infantry veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan but never held a major leadership position in the Pentagon. His credentials to serve as secretary of defense have been in question since Trump announced his selection earlier this month.
In the last few weeks, Hegseth’s nomination has come under intense scrutiny after a 2017 police report surfaced of an alleged sexual assault of a woman at a conference in California.
He said he was cleared of all charges but acknowledged paying a settlement to his accuser anyway.
Hegseth declined to answer reporter questions as he walked through the Senate hallway Tuesday morning, saying only he will meet with "every senator that wants to meet with us, across the board, and we welcome their advice as we go through the advice and counsel process."
Asked about his opinion on women in combat, Hegseth told reporters, "We have amazing women who serve our military," adding, "they’re already in combat."
Hegseth has railed against allowing women to serve in combat roles, and the combination of the alleged assaults and his views on female service members was seen as likely to be problematic, given he would be the top civilian leader of a force that is more than 17% female.
On Monday, The New Yorker published a damning investigation of Hegseth after obtaining a whistle blower report on his time at Concerned Veterans for America that detailed multiple incidents of intoxication and inappropriate behavior around female staffers.
According to the report, Hegseth was removed from both CVA and another group, Veterans for Freedom, after each ran into financial difficulty under his leadership.
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