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Floor Speech

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Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the confirmation of my constituent and friend Pete Hegseth.

Last week, during his 4\1/2\ hour confirmation hearing, America saw exactly why President Trump nominated Pete Hegseth to be our next Secretary of Defense. Pete is patriotic, smart. He is an energetic leader. His priorities are our warfighters and having their backs by focusing the Department of Defense on lethality and competence rather than extraneous political and social issues. He is the type of leader that can inspire, recruit, and retain the absolute best talent America has to offer.

Despite Pete's qualifications, the mainstream media, desperate to derail President Trump and his nominees, has gone after Pete's character by airing false and unsubstantiated claims. Take, for example, the article published Tuesday, just this week, by the New York Times. Despite the salacious and misleading headline in this paper, buried beneath 13 paragraphs of slanderous allegations, the Times actually disclaims the entire story with a direct quote from the supposed victim herself denying the allegations against Pete, saying:

There was no physical abuse in my marriage.

Yet, look at this headline--``Hegseth's Ex-in-Law Claims He Was Abusive to Second Wife''--even though, in the same article, the second wife disclaims all of this. This isn't journalism. Take a moment to think about this. This is a hit job. The New York Times intentionally ran with the salacious and debunked account, buried the truth, and distorted the lead simply to undermine President Trump and his nominee.

The New York Times is not alone, unfortunately; NBC News, The Hill, Politico, and even the Associated Press all chose to run the same salacious false headline instead of the facts.

Unfortunately, I am not surprised. This is the type of misleading-- and often unequivocally false--reporting that we have learned to expect from the left-leaning media.

The American people remember that the New York Times is the same publication that denied and suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story leading up to the 2020 election. It is the same paper that endorsed Joe Biden in 2020. The same paper that endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024.

The American people are sick and tired of the deception stemming from this alliance between the Democrat Party and the so-called mainstream media. This is yet another example of a story published with an aim to do harm and despite evidence to the contrary. It is why media has lost much of its credibility with the American people who see this article for what it is, a desperate, last-minute attempt to generate controversy where none exists.

Pete Hegseth is someone who is going to fix the Pentagon and deliver on President Trump's vision of peace through strength. He is exactly the type of leader that the Pentagon needs in the face of an increasingly complex and escalating security situation that is occurring around the world.

So while I am disappointed, I am not surprised at this 11th hour attempt by the media to raise debunked and completely discredited falsehoods simply with an aim to derail a confirmation.

I urge my colleagues to see through this noise, evaluate Pete's nomination based on the merits, which is why I plan to vote for Mr. Hegseth.

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