Tennessee U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) escorted fellow Tennessean Pete Hegseth, who was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense, to his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
.@SenatorHagerty and I just walked our fellow Tennessean and our next Secretary of Defense @PeteHegseth to his confirmation hearing.
We cannot wait for him to restore peace through strength and fix our recruiting crisis! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/HByeUgonlh
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) January 14, 2025
“Senator Hagerty and I just escorted Pete Hegseth to his hearing for secretary of defense. He is our fellow Tennessean, he is well prepared, and we look forward to his nomination,” Blackburn said in a video statement.
“We also look forward to seeing Pete put morale back into the military. He’s the kind of inspirational leader that we need to stop this retention problem we’ve had to encourage recruitment. He wants to modernize the military – bring new technologies into place. He can get that done, fighting the old ‘hide in the wool’ military industrial complex. What we expect to see is a rigorous hearing today and I think Pete is going to show himself as a tremendous leader,” Hagerty added in the video.
Hegseth, who resides in Middle Tennessee, served as an Infantry Officer in the Army National Guard, serving in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay. He holds two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge for his time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Prior to his successful television career at Fox News, Hegseth also held the positions of CEO for Concerned Veterans for America, a nationwide veterans advocacy organization, and executive director of Vets For Freedom, a political advocacy organization.
Ahead of Hegseth’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday, hundreds of American veterans gathered on Capitol Hill to support Hegseth’s nomination as Department of Defense secretary.
Trump also wished Hegseth “good luck” at Tuesday’s hearing, writing in a Truth Social post, “Pete Hegseth will make a GREAT Secretary of Defense. He has my Complete and Total support. Good luck today, Pete!”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
