Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said the military “could not do its job” without “the women who serve” while taking aim at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s controversial speech about the impending revamp of the military under the Trump administration.
“Well, this is the least qualified secretary of defense in our nation’s history, and he’s questioning the ability of the women who actually qualified to … to do their jobs,” Duckworth, an Army veteran, said of Hegseth while appearing on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “The female rangers, the females that graduated from SEAL school, have met those highest standards.”
Duckworth, who lost her legs and partial use of her right arm when an RPG hit her Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq in 2004, accused Hegseth of trying to “push women out of the military.”
“He has long sought to push women out of the military. And, frankly, our military could not do its job of protecting America and keeping us safe without the women who serve in the military,” she said.
Hegseth has faced criticism for emphasizing gender-neutral fitness standards for combat jobs.
Joined by Trump while speaking with hundreds of senior U.S. military officials in Quantico, Virginia, last week, Hegseth said it was important that certain combat positions return “to the highest male standard.”
He pointed out that the standard could lead to fewer women serving in combat roles before declaring, “If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result.”
“I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape, or in combat units with females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men,” Hegseth added during his speech on Sep. 30.
Elsewhere in his speech, Hegseth also railed against “fat generals and admirals.”
“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” he said. “Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country and the world.”
Hegseth added, “It’s a bad look. It is bad, and it’s not who we are.”
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a Marine veteran, called Hegseth a “laughing stock” following his speech.
“He knows that within the Department of Defense, people think he’s a laughing stock and that he is probably one of the worst secretary of defenses this country has had,” he told “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper on Sunday. “I think he’s trying to exert his power over some of these generals, but it’s not going to help when he is clearly way out of his league.”