‘The greatest warrior’: Hegseth rejects ‘misunderstanding’ that he opposes women joining the military
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, praised women in the military as the “greatest warriors” after critics questioned his comments that women were unfit for combat roles.
“I also want the opportunity to clear up some of the misunderstood comments that I don’t support women in the military, some of our greatest warriors, our best,” he said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. The warriors are all women.
Women in uniform “love our country and want to defend this flag, and they do that every day around the world. I’m not making any assumptions,” he added.
“But after President Trump asked me to serve as his secretary of defense, if I had the opportunity to do so, I look forward to being the secretary of defense for all of our warfighters, men and women, because of the amazing contributions they make in our military.”
Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth joins Fox News’ Sean Hannity. (Fox News)
Hegseth will meet with senators on Capitol Hill this week to secure the 50 votes he needs to secure the Cabinet-level position.
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In a Nov. 7 episode of the Shawn Ryan Podcast, which aired just days before Hegseth, a former Fox News employee, was named defense secretary, the nominator said: “ Let me put it bluntly, we should not involve women in this.
Hegseth claimed that women in combat roles “do not make us more effective or make us more lethal” and “make combat more complex.”
Hegseth noted that he wasn’t necessarily advocating for changes to be made now, commenting; “Imagine the demagoguery in Washington, D.C., if you were actually proposing, ‘We should have fewer women in combat.'”
Hegseth is attending a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill and his vote needs to be confirmed (Anna Chanmemaker)
“As a disclaimer to everyone,” he added, “we have all served alongside women, and they are great, it’s just that our institutions don’t have to inspire… places in human history where men have been more capable.”
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“I love women in the military who do amazing things,” he said, but he also asserted that “all this stuff about women serving together complicates the situation, and the complication of combat means greater casualties.”
He also criticized top military leadership for changing standards and Prioritize filling diversity quotas The above combat effectiveness. He pointed to a 2015 Marine Corps study that found gender-integrated units were “significantly worse” in combat effectiveness than all-male units.
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary Pete Hegseth, left, joins his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, in a meeting at the Capitol with Sen. Mike Rounds, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Thursday, December 5th. (Associated Press)
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“Men and women are different when it comes to bone density, lung capacity and muscle strength,” he said. “So, if you maintain everybody’s standard, I agree, it would be nice and cool to join an infantry battalion if there were some, you know, driven women who fit that standard. But that’s not what happened. It’s the standards that have been lowered.
