CNN’s Manu Raju Grills Committee Chair Over Pete Hegseth Background Check After Tense Hearing

CNN’s Manu Raju grilled Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-MS) about Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth’s FBI background check after his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

During a tense hearing, Hegseth was questioned on everything from his past marriages to reports about his drinking. Following the hearing, Raju caught up with Wicker and asked whether Hegseth’s FBI background check had been thorough enough and whether more women who accused him of sexual misconduct should have been spoken to.

Wicker said he does not know when an actual confirmation vote for Hegseth will occur.

Check out the exchange below:

MANU RAJU: Can you respond to the criticism that the FBI background check was incomplete and did not interview enough of these accusers from decades past? And why doesn’t the full committee have the full background check?

ROGER WICKER: Well, let me just say from the outset, though, that this was a tour de force, a takedown, a triumph. I think Mr. Hegseth had three audiences, the committee, the United States Senate and the American general public. I think it was a magnificent display of his knowledge and his ability to communicate, his leadership abilities. And I feel very good about this hearing today. I don’t think it could have gone any better.

RAJU: What about the FBI background checks? Specifically, the criticism from Jack Reed that it was not a complete background check. You hear from a lot of Democratic senators that this was not a complete background check. What do you say to them?

WICKER: Well, of course, in answer to your question, we followed the precedent from the committee for the last two nominations by a Democratic president and a Republican president. I don’t have any complaints about the FBI investigation. They did a thorough interview of persons at all the places where Mr. Hegseth has lived and worked, and I don’t have any objection.

RAJU: Why didn’t they interview the accuser of that sexual assault from 2017?

WICKER: I don’t think she wanted to speak and they interviewed um, some, 60 or more witnesses and three asked not to be identified.

Watch above via CNN.