GEOFF BENNETT: Let's return now to the confirmation hearing today of secretary of defense nominee Pete Hegseth.

Amna spoke earlier with Republican Senator Jim Banks.

And, for another perspective, we're joined now by Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who also serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Thank you for being with us.

You were one of the Democratic senators today who confronted Pete Hegseth for his past comments opposing women serving in combat roles.

Today, he argued that his critiques were actually tied to instances where he says he saw standards lowered.

How did you interpret that explanation?

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): Well, it doesn't hold any water because the standards have not been lowered.

The standards are the standards.

And, frankly, he tried to make today's hearing about whether or not women are qualified to serve in combat, when really today's hearing was about whether or not Pete Hegseth is qualified to be secretary of defense.

And he couldn't even answer the most basic questions I asked of him, like name a country that's in ASEAN, one of the most significant economic alliances in the Indo-Pacific.

And he couldn't even mention a single one.

So Pete Hegseth could do all he wants to try to put women -- to make this about whether or not women are qualified to serve, when really this is about whether or not he's qualified to be secretary of defense.

And he didn't show any capabilities to me today that he is able to do this job.

GEOFF BENNETT: He also argued that it's time for someone with dust on his boots -- that's how he put it -- after years of presidents selecting generals, academics, defense contractor executives to serve as defense secretaries.

When he says that he'd be a change agent and would restore the warrior ethos in the military, why did Democrats take issue with that?

The Pentagon's recruitment struggles are real.

Why not try a different approach?

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH: Well, the fact of the matter is, he's asking us to lower the standards for him.

Listen, I have dust on my boots as well.

In fact, my boots are still in Iraq, where I left them 20 years ago and my legs were blown off in combat.

So let's talk about dust on our boots.

The fact of the matter is, this man is not qualified to serve as secretary of defense.

It's not about being a change agent.

It's about not being competent.

I asked him to name three different ways that a secretary of defense actually negotiates national security or security treaties with our allies.

And he couldn't name a single one of them.

I asked very basic questions that every secretary of defense should be able to answer.

And he couldn't answer a single one of them, because he did not bother to do the homework.

He's so focused on being a culture warrior that he is forgetting what the job is.

The job is to really lead a three-million personnel organization with a budget of almost $50 billion.

The man has never even led an audit.

The last time that he led an organization, he led it -- he so badly managed its fiscal lead that they had to bring in forensic accountants.

The bottom line is that he's not competent to lead an organization of this size.

And he tried to make today's hearing about anything but the fact that he doesn't know what he's doing and would not know what he was doing as secretary of defense.

GEOFF BENNETT: Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, as I understand it, have not seen the FBI background check on Mr. Hegseth.

And there's reporting that this background check does not include interviews with his ex-wives or the woman who accused him of sexual assault back in 2017, which he denies.

Have you gotten an explanation from the FBI or from what is still the Biden Justice Department about the delays in providing this background check or answers to your questions about the thoroughness of it?

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH: I think this is what people -- civilians might not understand this, but actually the FBI's background check only looks at the things that the Trump, incoming Trump administration, asked them to look at, because the FBI background check is actually something that must be requested by the Trump transition team.

So if they don't request that they -- that the FBI go and talk to these accusers, then the FBI will not go and talk to these accusers.

Now, let me tell you that the women, they're not anonymous, and we know who they are.

They have come forward with their names.

They have said that they were more than willing to talk to the FBI, but they have not been questioned by the FBI.

And when we asked Mr. Hegseth today if the Trump administration -- if they would -- if the Trump administration would request that the FBI go talk to these women, he basically said, oh, I don't know.

I'm not in charge of that.

Actually he is, because he would be the one to tell the Trump transition team, hey, let's go ahead and ask the FBI to talk to these women.

And, by the way, it's Mr. Hegseth's lawyers who have sent threatening messages to the women, the women that he paid off in order to keep his last job, who accused him of sexual misconduct.

His lawyers have sent her threatening letters, saying, you better not say anything bad about Pete Hegseth, or we're going to come after you.

So this man wants this job, probably one of the toughest jobs you can have, wants to lead the United States military, and yet he is vulnerable, as far as I can tell, to being blackmailed.

I mean, he's already had to pay off somebody to keep his last job as a TV commentator, and now he's not allowing the FBI to go and interview the women who are accusing him of sexual misconduct, and he wants us to lower the standards, so he can become secretary of defense.

GEOFF BENNETT: Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, thanks for joining us this evening.

We appreciate it.

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH: Thank you.