Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has expressed skepticism about the confirmation prospects of a few of President-elect Donald Trump‘s key picks to serve in high-ranking posts in his second term, including the proposed installation of Kash Patel at the FBI, citing Patel’s “unwavering antipathy to fair law enforcement norms.”
Kash Patel’s primary qualifications for FBI director seem to be unquestioning allegiance to Trump & unwavering antipathy to fair law enforcement norms. Republicans will be tested—whether they put rule of law ahead of unswerving political subservience. https://t.co/paV9SDunD5
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) December 1, 2024
Now Blumenthal is seeking information about two nonprofits headed up by Trump’s embattled SecDef nominee Pete Hegseth, the Fox & Friends star. Hegseth is already facing serious scrutiny — even from some Trump loyalists — both about his professional qualifications for the job and his fitness for the position based on his concerning allegations about his personal comportment.
Attacking Hegseth with allegations from a blistering report in The New Yorker magazine that portrayed Hegseth as a character whose conduct appears disqualifying for any top Defense Department job, Blumenthal specifically aimed at Hegseth’s stints running two veterans groups, and requested answers about how the finances of those organizations operated.
[NOTE: Financial competence and integrity questions are as important as character questions when the job entails leading DOD, which has the biggest budget of and federal entity.]
Blumenthal has a particular interest here: he is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs and the Senate Judiciary Committee.
It is to the Chairman (Sen. Jack Reed) and Ranking Member (Sen. Roger Wicker) of the Armed Services Committee that Blumenthal makes his request to procure “all financial records and correspondence, particularly concerning credit card transactions, relating to Peter Hegseth’s tenure” at the Concerned Veterans of America (CVA) and Veterans for Freedom (VFF) organizations.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who sits on Senate Armed Services Committee, is calling on the leaders of the panel to demand two veterans groups that Pete Hegseth used to run to ‘preserve and produce’ records — including credit card transactions.
The demand comes as Hegseth reportedly… pic.twitter.com/kxyNL1sXM3
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 5, 2024
Blumenthal asks that this information be provided to the Armed Services Committee for review before his nomination is considered, “in light of recent reporting alleging gross misconduct and financial mismanagement” and “accusations of Mr. Hegseth’s serious financial abuse.”
