Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the party PentagonHe praised women in the military as some of the “greatest warriors” after critics took issue with comments he made about women being unfit to serve in combat roles.
“I also want an opportunity here to clarify the comments that were misconstrued, that I somehow don’t support women in the military, and some of our greatest warriors, our best warriors are women,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. Monday.
He added that female military service members “love our nation, want to defend this flag, and do so every day around the world. I’m not assuming anything.”
“But yet President Trump “I have been asked to serve as Secretary of Defense, and if I have the opportunity to do so, I look forward to serving as Secretary to all of our warriors, men and women, for the incredible contributions they make to our military.”
Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth joins Fox News’ Sean Hannity. (Fox News)
Hegseth will spend this week meeting with senators Capitol Hill To get the 50 votes he needs to secure the cabinet-level position.
On a November 7 episode of The Sean Ryan Show, which aired just days before Hegseth, a former Fox News employee, was tapped to serve as defense secretary, the nominee said: “I’m just being honest in saying we shouldn’t have women as defense secretary.” . combat roles.”
Hegseth emphasized that women serving in combat roles “did not make us more effective, did not make us more lethal” and “made combat more complex.”
Hegseth noted that he is not necessarily calling for change at this time, commenting; “Imagine the demagoguery in Washington, D.C., if you were actually advocating that women should be reduced from combat.”
Hegseth attends meetings on Capitol Hill with senators whose votes he needs to confirm (Anna Money Maker)
He added: “As a disclaimer to everyone out there, we’ve all served with women and they’re great. It’s just that our institutions don’t have to incentivize that in places where…throughout human history, men have been more capable.”
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“I love our female military service members who contribute amazingly,” he said, but stressed that “everything about women serving together makes the situation more complex and the complexity of combat means the casualties are worse.”
He also criticized the higher levels of military leadership for changing the standards Prioritize filling diversity quotas Above combat effectiveness. He pointed to a 2015 Marine Corps study that found that all-male and all-female units performed “significantly worse” in combat effectiveness than all-male units.
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, left, joined by his wife Jennifer Hegseth, attends a meeting with Senator Mike Rounds, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, December 5, 2024. (AP Photo/ J.Scott Applewhite) (AP)
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“Between bone density, lung capacity and muscle strength, men and women are completely different,” he said. “So, I’m OK with maintaining standards that apply to everyone, and if there are some, you know, hardworking females who meet that standard, great, great, they join the infantry battalion. But that’s not the case. What’s happened is the standards have gone down.” “
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2024-12-10 03:30:06
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