Transitioning to a
Transition from the
Transition of power
Prom
Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, grilled President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for Defense Secretary about misconduct allegations and other issues. However, she has not yet made a decision on whether to support his nomination.
Written by Karoun Demirjian
Providing coverage from the government
Senator Susan Collins from Maine, a member of the Republican party, stated that she had discussed both policy matters and misconduct allegations with Pete Hegseth in private. However, she mentioned that she would not make a decision on supporting President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to head the Pentagon until a comprehensive review is conducted.
"I asked him about his views on military matters and also questioned him about the accusations made against him," Ms. Collins informed the press following a lengthy one-on-one discussion with Mr. Hegseth. "We discussed everything thoroughly and I don’t believe there were any topics left untouched."
She mentioned that she wouldn’t make a decision on Mr. Hegseth leading the Pentagon until after his background check by the FBI and confirmation hearing, expected to be held by the Senate Armed Services Committee in January.
Ms. Collins, who is set to lead the influential Appropriations Committee in the upcoming Congress, stands out as one of the rare Republican senators who have openly expressed worries regarding Mr. Hegseth. This comes after reports emerged detailing accusations of sexual assault and harassment of women in the workplace, public intoxication, and financial mismanagement.
During their time together, she mentioned that she discussed various policy issues with Mr. Hegseth, such as defense procurement reforms, the involvement of women in the military, sexual assault within the military, Ukraine, and NATO.
Ms. Collins described the meeting as a productive and meaningful conversation.
However, it was evident that Mr. Hegseth had not secured her approval yet. Later on, he informed the media that he was unsure of how Ms. Collins would ultimately decide on his nomination.
We are currently experiencing difficulties in accessing the content of the article.
To use this website, make sure to turn on JavaScript in
We appreciate your understanding as we confirm your access. If you are currently in Reader mode, please log out and sign in to your Times account, or consider subscribing to access all of The Times’ content.
We appreciate your understanding as we confirm access.
Are you currently a member? Please sign in.
Interested in having access to all the content from The Times? Consider
Prom
List of Pages
Navigation for Site Information