Sullivan is all in on Trump’s Pentagon pick while Murkowski mulls Hegseth’s expertise

WASHINGTON —Some senators tossed softballs to the nominee to lead the Defense Department.

“Tell me something about your wife that you love,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said during his seven-minute opportunity to question Pete Hegseth.

Others, like Sen. Tammy Duckworkth, D-Ill, played interrogator.

“Yes or no?” she demanded repeatedly, talking over Hegseth. “Yes or no? Did you lead an audit? I will take that as no.”

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, played from his album of greatest hits.

“Now for the most important question you will receive all day,” Sullivan said, straight-faced. “In 1935 before the Congress, the father of the United States Air Force General Billy Mitchell …”

Even casual observers of hearings in this committee knew which Mitchell quote was coming.

“‘’In the future, whoever holds this place will control the world. This location is the most strategic place in the world.’ What place was Billy Mitchell talking about?” Sullivan asked. “And let me give you a hint: It wasn’t Greenland.”

“I believe he was talking about the great State of Alaska,” Hegseth said.

With that, Hegseth aced Sullivan’s favorite Armed Services hearing question.

Hegseth is one of Trump’s most controversial nominees. Democratic senators grilled him about allegations of sexual assault and mismanaging the budgets of veteran organizations he ran. He denied all of it, and disavowed his prior declarations that women have no place in combat. It made for a contentious hearing.

But confirmation hearings are never just about the nominee. They are also a chance for senators to make their own points — to a potential cabinet member, to fellow senators, and in a high-profile hearing like this one, to the nation at large. Sullivan, as is his practice, used the opportunity to make the case for more military investment back home.

“Mr. Hegseth, if confirmed, will you work with me, this committee and the incoming commander in chief on continuing to build up our military assets and infrastructure in Alaska, to reestablish deterrence in the Arctic and in the Indo Pacific?” he asked.

With pleasure, Hegseth said.

Sullivan has enthusiastically endorsed Hegseth, and all 14 Republican members of the committee sounded inclined to give him a thumbs-up when the committee votes, likely next week.

That would clear the nomination for the Senate floor. One of the few Republicans who sounds on the fence about Hegseth is Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

“If you’re going to be managing an operation as significant as the Department of Defense, okay, this is, this is big, right? You want to make sure that you do have a level of of management expertise,” she said.

Murkowski isn’t on the Armed Services Committee but she said she’d listen carefully to the recorded hearing. And she met with Hegseth privately last month and asked him about the two veterans organizations he is accused of mismanaging. She said she’ll likely have follow-up questions for him.

Murkowski isn’t ready to say how she’ll vote on Hegseth, or even whether he’s the most difficult confirmation decision for her. But she acknowledged, he’s the one drawing the most constituent attention.

“I was quizzing the staff that work the phones. ‘Who are we hearing the most incoming about?,” she said in an interview in her Senate office suite. “And it certainly is the secretary of Defense nominee right now.”

It’s a huge week for confirmation hearings in the Senate, with the nominees to lead the CIA, the EPA and the departments of Energy, Interior, Justice, State, Transportation and Treasury all on the schedule.