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Elizabeth Warren says Trump’s pick for defense secretary ‘must be rejected’
“A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren denounced President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Fox News host Pete Hegseth, a veteran, as his secretary of defense, calling for the appointment to “be rejected.”
“A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense,” Warren wrote on X. “Donald Trump’s pick will make us less safe and must be rejected.”
A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 13, 2024
I lead the Senate military personnel panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform. I respect every one of our servicemembers.
Donald Trump’s pick will make us less safe and must be rejected. https://t.co/6ADUJSm8x6
Half of all federal spending goes toward the Department of Defense, which has “a profound impact on our nation’s financial health,” Warren previously told Boston.com.
Previously:
“It affects us right here in Massachusetts,” Warren, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said in a September interview. “How we treat our active duty military, our veterans, and our military families has an important impact on who serves and what their experiences are like.”
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Hegseth, a military veteran and conservative media personality, has advocated to release service members accused of war crimes, according to the Associated Press, and was also reportedly considered for a position in Trump’s first administration.
Per the AP:
Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience.
After graduating from Princeton University in 2003, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry captain in the Army National Guard, serving overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay.
He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and also unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012. According to his Fox News bio, he has a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
In a statement, Warren also called Trump’s recently announced appointments of Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, and Kristi Noem “alarming.”
“Trump is bypassing Senate oversight to give control over mass deportations to Stephen Miller and Tom Homan — key architects of the family separation policy,” the statement said. “With a long history of championing Trump’s draconian immigration policies, Governor Kristi Noem will carry out his cruel plans without a second thought.”
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