An FBI background check for Pete Hegseth, Trump nominee for Secretary of Defense, finally reached the leading members of the Senate Armed Services Committee late Friday, only days before Tuesday’s formal confirmation hearing.
Of the 25-member committee, only Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the panel’s chairman, and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member have the report. Committee sources familiar with the process say it is“unprecedented” that the report took this long to get to the panel’s top members.
Democrats suggest the FBI report may not be thorough.
“I don’t think that I’m going to be allowed to look at the FBI investigation before the hearing,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., told NBC News on Friday. “I also think it probably is not comprehensive. … An FBI investigation is not the be-all and end-all, but even that we’re not being allowed to look at it.”
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said the FBI background check should address Hegseth’s “significant personal issues” but said “the biggest problem I have is he just doesn’t seem prepared in any way to do this job.”
Three Democratic aides said they were told that Hegseth would meet with them on January 15, the day after the hearing.
Leaders from Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America, the two organizations Hegseth resigned from, have said they have not been contacted by the FBI to participate in a Hegseth background check.
