And joining me now to discuss today's confirmation hearing is Republican Senator Jim Banks of Indiana, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and was in the room today.

Senator, welcome to the NewsHour. Thanks for joining us.

Good to be with you.

So Mr. Hexseth faced some pretty tough questions today on the past allegations of excessive drinking, his infidelity and judgment, management, and experience.

How do you think he handled those questions today?

I thought the hearing went exceptionally well for Pete Heggsett. The Democrats were looking

for a gotcha moment, and they were trying to land a blow, but they couldn't do it because they

keep manufacturing and repeating anonymous sources and allegations.

And at the end of the day, we walked out of the room and I thought Pete, who had momentum

going into the hearing, had even more momentum coming out of it.

It went very well for him.

He focused on the issues, why it matters that we send a Secretary of Defense who's serious

about preparing to fight and win

wars to be the next secretary, why Donald Trump picked him to do that. And I think he picked up

even more support in the room after the hearing. I'm looking forward to us moving quickly to

confirm him on January 20th and send him to the Pentagon to do his job. As you've seen several several senators have very plainly, they don't believe Mr. Heggseth has the experience to do this job.

His management experience is limited to a couple of small non-profits.

Why do you believe that that lack of experience isn't an issue here?

Well, keep in mind, those were partisan attacks.

The Democrats on the committee and the minority, they were the ones that were repeating

these anonymous allegations.

So, and, and Mr. Hex said,

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