A senator told Hegseth: "I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations."

Awkward exchanges about the defense secretary hopeful’s past were plentiful as Democrats went after the first embattled Trump pick to face a confirmation hearing.

Defense Secretary Austin will bid farewell Friday following a term that included three major military crises, a global pandemic and a brush with cancer.

Hegseth wants to restore honor to Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, the native North Carolinian whose name was replaced at Fort Bragg last year. | Opinion

A telling moment in the supremely depressing Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, the Fox News personality who is Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, came right at the beginning, when the former Republican senator Norm Coleman introduced him.

Wicker did not specify what day the vote would take place, but said it could be as late as next Thursday if Senate Democrats do not allow the chamber to speed up the confirmation process.

When President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was — to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense,” Pete Hegseth said in his confirmation

Hegseth does not have the qualifications that one would typically associate with the leader of the most powerful military in human history.

A Democrat senator admitted Tuesday that he would support Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's confirmation again if the vote was held today despite Austin's many controversial actions and repeatedly grilling Trump's SecDef nominee Pete Hegseth over his qualifications earlier in the day.

Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon endured fierce Democratic grilling over everything from his inexperience, alleged drinking and his past opposition to women in combat to emerge largely unscathed among Republicans at his confirmation hearing.

A cursory review of Hegseth’s background reveals he has little knowledge or experience of complex national security issues.

In what is expected to be the most rigorous confirmation hearing this week, Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for