WATCH: Sen. King tells Hegseth restoring Confederate names to military bases is an ‘insult’

In a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday on the military’s budget request, Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the Trump administration’s decision to revert the names of military bases to match historical Confederate figures.

Watch the clip in the player above.

“Why are you going through these incredible gymnastics, finding current soldiers or other soldiers to rename — and you slipped a minute ago, you said ‘we’re returning these bases to their original names’ — Robert E. Lee, leading general of the Confederacy, Pickett, the other names?” King asked.

“This is something that we’ve been proud to do, something that’s important for the morale of the Army,” Hegseth argued. “And those communities appreciate that we’ve returned it back to what it was instead of trying to play this game of erasing names.”

Last week, President Donald Trump announced in remarks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, that the names of seven bases that had changed under the Biden administration would be returned to their former names: Fort Rucker in Alabama, Fort Gordon in Georgia, Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Hood in Texas and Fort Pickett, Fort Robert E. Lee and Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia.