WATCH: Highlights from Hegseth confirmation hearing… it gets wild, passionate, emotional and comical

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The confirmation hearing for Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth was filled with outbursts and fireworks on Tuesday, as Democrats ranted and raged over his personal life, while Republicans continually pivoted back to how Hegseth would make the military great again.

When Hegseth first entered the room ahead of the hearing, a large number of supporters in the audience broke into applause and chants of “USA! USA!”

The chairman later had to remind them when the hearing began that audience participation of any kind was against protocol.

During Hegseth’s opening statement, he said, “All Glory, regardless of the outcome, belongs to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His grace and mercy abounds each day. MAY HIS WILL BE DONE.”

As soon as Hegseth began his opening statement, leftist protesters in the room, one after another, began screaming their objections, with at least three escorted from the room.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) then gave Hegseth an opportunity to respond to the protests, one who had howled about him being a ‘Christian Zionist.’

Hegseth addressed the multitude of allegations that have been launched against him since his nomination, and said it was a clear smear campaign by the leftist media.

Democrats repeatedly pounded on Hegseth over whether he supports women serving in combat, and tried to portray him as a womanizer, cheater and assaulter. They tried to snag him with “gotcha” questions and hypothetical scenarios, then denounced him when he refused to fall for it.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) tried to snag Hegseth over women in the military:

Democrat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) raged against Hegseth for not embracing those with liberal views.

Hegseth fired back, “I volunteered to guard the inauguration of Joe Biden and was denied because I was identified as an ‘extremist’ over a Christian tattoo.”

Gillibrand then went off the rails over Hegseth being against women with children serving in combat roles.

Radical Democrat Sen. Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) did not disappoint, as she tried to snag Hegseth in a hypothetical scenario about whether he would use the military to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.

Hirono also repeated the allegations from an NBC hit piece that claimed Hegseth had showed up drunk while working at Fox News. Hegseth’s former colleagues at Fox have widely debunked those allegations.

WATCH:

Democrat Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), who was born in Thailand, also went on a rampage.  On Monday she claimed that Hegseth is “vulnerable” to blackmail from U.S. foreign adversaries and insisted that he is not “qualified” to run the Pentagon.

Hirono demanded that Hegseth promise that he will resign if he drinks on the job… and then added that the job he is taking is a 24/7 position.  Hegseth has vowed to stop drinking, but would not comply with her demand that he would resign if he had a drink.

WATCH:

Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal seized on allegations of financial mismanagement.

Many are now recalling that Blumenthal once falsely claimed he served in Vietnam and was later caught in the lie.

Podcaster Benny Johnson brought up an old tweet from Trump in 2019, in which he wrote, “I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senator from Connecticut (how is Connecticut doing?). His war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud – he was never even there. We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders!”

Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine went on a holier-than-thou rampage, pointing out that Hegseth cheated on his second wife, with the woman who would later become his third wife.

Kaine’s hypocrisy has been pointed out. “Here’s Tim Kaine campaigning with Doug Emhoff, who – while married – impregnated his nanny and forced her to get an abortion.”

Podcaster Benny Johnson wrote, “Wait. Senator Tim Kaine RAN with Hillary Clinton for President who enabled her serial cheater husband to pray on interns and female employees. Tim Kaine wanted to put Bill Clinton back in the White House. But now Tim Kaine has questions of marital fidelity and qualification for office? Scum.”

The Trump War Room just resurrected an old Twitter post by President-elect Trump from July 2016, in which he wrote, “Is it the same Kaine that took hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts while Governor of Virginia and didn’t get indicted while Bob M did?”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) went on a tirade against Hegseth.  At one point, she demanded that he vow he would never work in the defense industry after his term at the Pentagon.

“You are quite sure every General who serves should not go directly into the defense industry for 10 years but you’re not willing to make that same pledge?” Warren raged.

Hegseth retorted, “I’m not a General, Senator.”  The room erupted in laughter.  Warren once claimed she was Native American, which was later found to be false.

Warren had earlier blasted Hegseth in a lengthy allegation-filled letter, including complaining about a Christian tattoo he has, called the Jerusalem cross.

Hegseth addressed the tattoo during the hear, and pointed out that, ironically, the very same symbol was on the front of former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral program.

Trump advisor Jason Miller then posted a photo of Carter’s funeral booklet.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) used part of his time to rip into Democrats who had launched multiple allegations against Hegseth, and pointed out the blatant hypocrisy.

“How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night… and how many senators have gotten divorced from their wives?” he demanded in the brutal takedown.

“It’s so ridiculous you guys hold yourself as a higher standard, and you forget you’ve got a big plank in your eye?” Mullin demanded, pointing at Democrats on the other side of the room.

Mullin wrote, “We’re in the business of facts, not baseless, discredited, anonymous accusations. @PeteHegseth has cleared numerous FBI background checks, including to renew his TS/SCI clearance. Hegseth will Make Defense Great Again.”

In another must-see exchange, Democrat Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.) sneered at the end of his questioning, “You have not convinced me that you’re able to take on this tremendous responsibility with a complex organization and having little or no significant management experience.”

Hegseth fired back, “Senator, I’m grateful to be hired by one of the most successful CEOs in American history, should I be confirmed.”

Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) then quipped, “Mr. Hegseth, it seems to me that you’ve supervised far more people than the average United States Senator.”

The audience erupted in laughter and cheers. Watch below:

“Our warfighters understand what Commander-in-Chief they’re going to get with President Trump: Someone who stands behind them, someone who gives them clear missions, someone who ends wars decisively,” Hegseth said during one exchange with a Republican senator who finally allowed him to talk about the real issues.

Responding to a question by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa), who has focused on wasteful spending in government, Hegseth said, “An audit is an issue of national security, and frankly respect to American taxpayers, who give $850B over to the Defense Department and expect that we know where that money goes… I think previous Secretaries of Defense, with all due respect, haven’t necessarily emphasized the strategic prerogative of an audit.”

Hegseth vowed that all the thousands of service members who were kicked out of the service for refusing the Covid vaccines will be apologized to, and reinstated with their pay and rank.

In one poignant moment of the hearing, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) asked Hegseth why he wants the job.

With emotion in his voice, Hegseth replied, “Because I love my country and I’ve dedicated my life to the warfighters. People see me as someone who hosted a morning show on television, but people who really know me know where my heart’s at. It’s with the guys in this audience who’ve had my back, and I’ve had theirs. We’ve been in some of the darkest and most difficult places you could ever be in. You come back a different person. And only by the grace of God am I hear before you today. I’m doing this job for them. For all of them.”

Former WH Press Secretary Ari Fleischer commented during the hearing, “Pete Hegseth is crushing it. It is refreshing to hear someone relentlessly focus on warriors and lethality, without playing Washington’s word-salad game of forcing nominees to talk like social workers who run government agencies.”

“.@PeteHegseth is knocking this out of the park so far and Democrats are having a hard time challenging him. Pete is going to be a great Secretary of Defense and the world is seeing right now why @realDonaldTrump tapped him for the job! 🇺🇸,” wrote Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).

A large number of Navy SEALS, Army Green Berets and other veterans were in the audience to support Hegseth.

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