Hegseth hits back at misconduct allegations in contentious hearing

Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, argued Americans are "tired of woke ideology" as he questioned Hegseth on DEI programs and other military policy initiatives.

Schmitt also had a message for Democrats: "If you haven't picked up on that, you missed the plot, because that's what Nov. 5 partially was about."

Schmitt praised Hegseth as a "disrupter" of the ilk that Americans who voted for Trump want in Washington.

Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth, a former helicopter pilot who lost both of her legs when her aircraft was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade, also criticized Hegseth as unqualified for the job.

As she spoke, she displayed a copy of the U.S. Army Soldier's Creed behind her and recited some of it out loud.

"Every single day that I woke up and fought my way back because I wanted to go back and serve next to my buddies who saved my life, this same copy, these words, I repeated over and over and over again," she said.

"Mr. Hegseth, our troops follow these words every single day and they man up and they pack their rucksacks and they go to war and they deserve a leader who can lead them," Duckworth added.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., took aim at Senate Democrats, claiming hypocrisy over their attacks on Hegseth.

"You guys aren't any more qualified to be the senator than I'm qualified to be," he said.

Mullin took shots, even asking, "How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? How many senators do you know have got a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did you ask them to step down?"

"You guys make sure you make a big show and point out the hypocrisy because a man's made a mistake and you want to sit there and say that he's not qualified," said Mullin, who claimed his wife had to forgive him "more than once."

Michigan Democrat Gary Peters called out Hegseth's lack of management experience as a potential problem for an agency the size of the Pentagon.

"You have not convinced me that you are able to take on this tremendous responsibility with this complex organization with little or no management experience," Peters said.

After his remarks, Republican chairman Roger Wicker briefly chimed in.

"You've managed more people than the average United States senator," Wicker told Hegseth. The remark prompted some laughter among attendees.