Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) immediately pressed Hegseth over the Russia-Ukraine war, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) driving home the point later in the hearing; Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top Senate appropriator, scolded the Pentagon's delays with budget information.
McConnell, one of three Republicans who opposed Hegseth's confirmation, gaveled in the hearing by calling out the Trump administration for what he views as a flat base-line defense budget. He then launched into strong warnings against the U.S. cozying up to Russia in its bid to end its war in Ukraine.
McConnell said Washington's allies are "wondering whether we're in the middle of brokering what appears to be allowing the Russians to define victory. I think victory is defined by the people who have to live there — the Ukrainians."
The former Senate majority leader who now chairs the subcommittee, McConnell asked Hegseth which side he wanted to win the war. The Defense chief said the Trump administration wanted the killing to end but would not choose a side.
"America's reputation is on the line," McConnell said. "Will we defend Democratic allies against authoritarian aggressors?"
Later in the hearing, Graham asked Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine if Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to stop at Ukraine.
"I don't believe he is," Caine replied. Hegseth, meanwhile, said it "remains to be seen."
Graham fired back, referring to his previous allusion to appeasement of Adolf Hitler: "Well, he says he's not. This is the '30s all over. It doesn't remain to be seen."
The line of questioning laid bare the ideological divide within the GOP as to how the U.S. should confront Russia, seen by defense hawks as a global threat that must be countered with military assistance to prop up Ukraine and assert U.S. force in the European theater.
But many in the Trump administration, including Hegseth, have taken a more ambivalent tone, arguing for an "America First" approach that could see American troops rotated out of bases in Europe and an end to the flow of military aid from Washington to Kyiv.
"We don't want a headline at the end of this conflict that says Russia wins and America loses," McConnell told Hegseth.
The hearing had a far more adversarial tone compared to Hegseth's appearance before the House Appropriations defense subcommittee a day prior, in which the Pentagon chief emerged largely unscathed, particularly at the hands of GOP members.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
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