Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a high-profile Democrat and veteran, said that Donald Trump’s secretary of defense pick, Pete Hegseth, won’t meet with her ahead of his confirmation hearing.
“Right now, I’m waiting to meet with him, and he’s not agreed to any time to meet with us until after the hearing,” Duckworth, who served in combat in the Iraq War and had both of her legs amputated after a grenade hit the helicopter she was copiloting, told NOTUS on Wednesday. “I’m somewhat disappointed that he’s not making himself available.”
In a statement to NOTUS, a Hegseth aide said “we reached out to several [Senate Armed Services Committee] Democrats well before Thanksgiving, and those offices did not respond to meet with Mr. Hegseth in December.” The statement went on to say that the only Democratic senator who responded “to initial requests” was Sen. John Fetterman, who met with Hegseth last month. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, also met with Hegseth on Wednesday.