The Hegseth Hearings: Did Tim Kaine Overdo the Questions About Infidelity?

Having tuned in to Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearings beginning Tuesday morning, there is la lot to talk about.I’m typing this on the train for a quick trip to Washington, D.C. for the first of many Inauguration parties. (I’ll be returning there Saturday for the full immersion.)The one thing I found jarring about Tuesday’s back and forth was when Senator Kaine of Virginia – whom I mistakenly remembered as a mild-mannered milk-toast politician when he was Secretary Clinton’s running-mate – lit into Mr. Hegseth like a Rottweiler.He pressed Mr. Hegseth about the now infamous extra-marital encounter he had in Monterey, California, while he was still married to his second wife – and had just had a baby daughter with the woman who would become wife number three.Senator Kaine speaks during the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s choice to be defense secretary, at the Capitol at Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. AP Photo/Ben CurtisIt was a brutal exchange:Senator Kaine: You acknowledge that you cheated on your wife and that you cheated on the woman by whom you had just fathered a child? …you have admitted that.Pete Hegseth: I will allow your words to speak for themselves.TK: you’re not retracting that today? That’s good. I assume that in each of your weddings you’ve pledged to be faithful to your wife. You’ve taken an oath to do that haven’t you?PH: Senator, as I’ve acknowledged to everyone in this committee I’m not a perfect person, not claiming to be but—TK: No, I just asked the simple question. You’ve taken an oath like you would take an oath to be Secretary of Defense at all of your weddings to be faithful to your wife, is that correct?PH: I have failed in things in my life and thankfully I’m redeemed by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.As I’ve written here, before, I don’t know anything about Pete Hegseth other than second-hand gossip from a friend of his first wife, and what I read.Obviously, the details of that unfortunate night in Monterey which resulted in a criminal complaint against him (Mr. Hegseth, who was never charged, denies any misconduct) and ended in a private settlement is a key component of the arguments about Mr. Hegseth’s character made by the many people who feel he is not qualified to be defense secretary – but what’s at stake, surely, is the question of assault, not infidelity.(I thought Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut, who focused on Mr. Hegseth’s track record as the CEO of a non-profit, was much more on point with his questioning. He told Mr. Hegseth that he’d have no problem if Mr. Hegseth was being appointed head of communications for the D.O.D, but questioned if he had the right track record to run the vast D.O.D budget.)President Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. speaks during a Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on January 14, 2025 at Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesBut when Mr. Kaine pressed on and on about Mr. Hegseth’s marriage vows, implying that since he broke those, he then lacked the integrity to be sworn into public office, I felt this was a bridge too far. Studies show that we are way beyond the point where most people, including Christian voters, correlate personal morality to integrity in office. The majority of American voters, after all, know all about Donald Trump’s tabloid divorce and multiple marriages and think it doesn’t matter a jot.And what about the infidelities of the husband of Mr. Kaine’s one-time running mate, Hillary Clinton?! That it was Mr. Kaine, of all the Democrats, posing these questions, seemed deeply ironic.It’s also true that Donald Trump got to wife number three when he was age 58 – a more socially acceptable age than Mr. Hegseth’s youthful 39. And it doesn’t help Mr. Hegseth that he looks young for his 44 years. That he’s already gotten such a busy track record maritally behind him, in such a short space of time, is an interesting detail for cocktail party chit-chat – but is it anything more than that?As always when I’m noodling ethics and morality issues, I phoned my friend Richard Painter, President George W. Bush’s White House ethics tsar for his thoughts.Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s choice to be Defense Secretary, appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol at Washington. AP/Alex Brandon“I’m all for fidelity. My wife would certainly agree,” he said with a chuckle.But he also doesn’t think the topic of Mr. Hegseth’s sex life belonged in today’s confirmation hearing.“After the Democrats defended Bill Clinton…to be bringing all that, it looks hypocritical,” he said, also marveling that it was Tim Kaine who pushed the issue.“They ought to focus on the important things, like financial conflicts of interest and the weaponization of the Justice Department … but to be getting into his sex life … it’s not a classy way to go.”Adapted from Ms. Ward’s Substack

The Hegseth Hearings: Did Tim Kaine Overdo the Questions About Infidelity?

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