JUST IN: Chaos Erupts During Hegseth’s Opening Statement As Protestors Hijack Confirmation Hearing

Chaos erupted during Pete Hegseth’s opening remarks in his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday as protestors and agitators who waited hours to gain coveted seats in the committee room were dragged out after causing multiple disruptions.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Defense began his introduction with an explanation about why Trump remained convinced of his ability to lead the department despite weeks of withering reporting about his alleged struggle with alcohol and womanizing. Before he finished his remarks, at least three protestors had been pulled from the audience. “You are a misogynist!” an old bearded man shouted from the back of the room as Hegseth tried to talk over him. Omnidirectional microphones opened up inside the room to capture more of his rantings, but by then, the protestor had been dragged to the exit. Hegseth took a sip from his glass of water and sat politely, waiting to continue his opening statement.

“The primary charge he gave me was to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense,” Hegseth continued. “He, like me, wants a Pentagon laser-focused on lethality, meritocracy, war-fighting, and readiness.” It was at that point when a second female protestor toward the back of the room yelled over Hegseth, who sat quietly and smiled for the senators as Dirksen Building officers worked to forcibly remove the woman from the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. A C-SPAN camera captured the chaos as she was restrained with her arms behind her back and shoved to the exit. Multiple members of the audience and a few press photographers stood up to immediately capture the moment. Unfortunately for the woman, her threats against Hegseth were muffled by the distance between her and the microphones.

“You may continue, sir,” said committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) once the woman and a man wearing a pink service member’s uniform were escorted out of the room. “We will reestablish trust in our military,” Hegseth said, trying for a third time to make his case for confirmation, “addressing the recruiting crisis, the retention crisis, and the readiness crisis in our ranks.” Not to be outdone, a third protestor wailed more loudly than his predecessors and fought to the point that multiple officers were forced to carry him from the room. After five minutes of remarks interspersed between another five minutes of incessant disruptions, senators were finally able to ask Hegseth about some of the controversies dogging him since his nomination was announced in November.

Sen. Wicker, a Republican, began the inquiry by asking the former Fox News host whether there is any veracity to multiple mainstream media reports alleging he developed a drinking problem after leaving the military. Hegseth replied that the reports were part of a “coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us. Our leftwing media in America today sadly doesn’t care about the truth.” Senators are expected to take up a vote on Hegseth’s confirmation by the end of the week, providing President-elect Trump with the head of a national security team in advance of his first day in office.

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