Sen. Tammy Duckworth: Hegseth Is "Unqualified," Gabbard Is "Compromised," "Couldn't Pass A Background Check"

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, signaled during an interview Sunday morning on CNN that she will strongly oppose Donald Trump's choice for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, and Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard -- both veterans who served in Iraq.

CNN's Dana Bash asked about the idea that the American people elected Donald Trump because they want "disruptors" in the government.

"No, that's not our system of government," Duckworth said. "We have checks and balances. We want people who can run those organizations. They can be disrupters, but they can still run those organizations."


"There are ways to be disrupters without actually putting people who have never run an organization larger than a platoon to be secretary of defense," she said.

Duckworth's concerns about Hegseth:

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): He never commanded a unit. He never commanded a company, let alone battalions, brigades, or whole armies. He was a platoon leader. He served at a very low level in the military.

And we're talking about an organization that has three million service men and women and civilians and a budget of over $900 billion. He does not have the experience to run an organization of that size. So, just based on those requirements alone, he is unqualified for the position.

...

He's wrong [about women in combat] because women have made us more effective.

In fact, our military could not go to war without its 223,000 women who serve in uniform. We would have an ineffective military that was not capable of deployment if we were to pull out all the women and say, you cannot be in combat.

For those women who are in roles such as the infantry or Navy SEALs, those women have met the same standards as the men in order to be assigned to those positions. So, again, this shows that Mr. Hegseth is not qualified for the position, because he doesn't understand, apparently, even after having served, that women are actually vitally important to an effective military.

And with the recruiting challenges we're having right now, if we were to pull all those women out and say you can't go into combat, we would face a severe personnel crisis in the military.

Her thoughts on Tulsi Gabbard:

DUCKWORTH: Well, I think she's compromised. I think by going to Syria and basically backing this brutal dictator there -- I mean, Russian-controlled media called her a Russian asset. So I do think that we have a real deep concern whether or not she's a compromised person.

And, frankly, the U.S. Intelligence Committee -- I'm sorry -- the U.S. intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with America's foes. And so my worry is that she couldn't pass a background check.

BASH: So you are a Democrat. You are in the minority now in the United States Senate. If she can find the votes among Republicans, likely, to get confirmed, it sounds like that would worry you to have her in that job.

DUCKWORTH: Very much so. She has no intelligence background whatsoever.

When she was in Iraq, she was a medical records clerk E4, below the rank of sergeant. Her second deployment was actually to Kuwait, Kuwaiti naval base, where she only spent three months training the Kuwaiti military. So -- and I don't know of any intelligence work that she has done.

So she is, in terms of the intelligence community, very unqualified. Plus, she is potentially compromised and could be and has -- there are questions about whether or not she is now a Russian asset.

BASH: Do you believe that she could be a Russian asset?

DUCKWORTH: I think that she is someone who is wholly backing and supportive of Putin. And I worry that she will not have America's best interests at heart.

Finally, CNN's Dana Bash asked about Trump's desire to see "disruptors" in government:

BASH: I want to just quickly, as you have said about several of the nominees that they're not qualified.

But I just want to kind of give the perspective of Donald Trump and the people who put him in, which is, he wants to put people in who are disrupters into these agencies to really change things up. So just to play devil's advocate, when it's advise and consent, is there something to be said for the American people voted for him, for this kind of government and let him have those people who are going to disrupt?

DUCKWORTH: No, that's not our system of government. We have checks and balances. We want people who can run those organizations. They can be disrupters, but they can still run those organizations.

The VA is a good example. The VA has been having a terrible issue with their electronic medical records program. Hopefully, Doug Collins gets in there and is a disrupter and does something with that. So there are ways to be disrupters without actually putting people who have never run an organization larger than a platoon to be secretary of defense.