Let's return now to the confirmation hearing today of Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegesith.

Omna spoke earlier with Republican Senator Jim Banks, and for another perspective, we're joined now by Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who also serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Thank you for being with us. You were one of the Democratic senators today who

confronted Pete Hegseth for his past comments opposing women serving in combat rules. Today, he

argued that his critiques were actually tied to instances where he says he saw standards lowered.

How did you interpret that explanation?

Well, it doesn't hold any water because the standards have not been lowered. The standards are the standards. And frankly, he tried to make today's hearing about whether or not

women are qualified to serve in combat when really today's hearing was about whether or not

Pek Heseth is qualified to be Secretary of Defense.

And he could even answer the most basic questions I asked of him, like name, you know, a country

that's in ASEAN, one of the most significant economic alliances in the Indo-Pacific.

And he could even mention a single one.

So Pekheketh could do all he wants to try to put women, you know, to make this about

whether or not women are qualified to serve when really this is about whether or not he's qualified

to be Secretary of Defense. And he didn't show any capabilities to me today that he is able to do

this job. He also argued that it's time for someone with dust on his boots.

That's how he put it.

After years of presidents selecting generals, academics, defense contractor, executives to serve as defense secretaries,

when he says that he'd be a change agent and would restore the warrior ethos in the military,

why did Democrats take issue with that?

The Pentagon's recruitment struggles are real. Why not try a different approach? Well, the fact of the matter is he's

asking us to lower the standards for him. Listen, I have dust on my boots as well. In fact,

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