Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) hit back at her fellow Armed Services Committee colleague, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), after Ernst backed down from her opposition to Pentagon chief nominee Pete Hegseth, facing mounting pressure from MAGA allies.
MSNBC host Katy Tur read Ernst's statement saying Hegseth's ex-wife disputed the claims from her sister-in-law, but Duckworth noted that wasn't the case.
"Let's just start off by saying that the ex-wife did not swear that it did happen," said Duckworth. "There was a statement that came out from her lawyers. Remember that this ex-wife is dependent on Mr. Hegseth for child support and that she has very young children, and she has expressed deep fear of him in the past."
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Duckworth explained that the statement from her lawyers was "very carefully made" to say: “There was no physical abuse in my marriage." The allegations from former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, didn't mention physical abuse in her marriage.
According to the sister-in-law's statement, Samantha Hegseth feared for her safety. Among the allegations were that she hid in a closet from him and made an escape plan where if she needed to get away she would use a code word with friends and family.
Ernst initially indicated she wasn't supportive of Hegseth and immediately faced a barrage of attacks from the MAGA world. Billionaire Elon Musk also threatened Republicans that if they didn't support Trump, he would spare no expense in his efforts to primary them.
"So much so that she, not long after that, surprisingly came out and said, 'Oh, I don't actually have any reservations anymore,'" said Duckworth. "I think this is all about people buckling under to Donald Trump. And it is really quite sad because this is about the operational readiness of our United States military."
Ernst is up for election in 2026.
To Duckworth, Hegseth isn't smart enough to handle the job.
"I mean, he's just not qualified. I asked him very simple questions about, you know, what type of international negotiations would you have to engage in as a secretary of Defense. And he couldn't answer that," she said noting she doesn't expect he'll ever be capable of going "toe to toe with the secretary of defense of the People's Republic of China."
See the interview below or at the link here.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
