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People Sure Are Noticing How Terrible Tim Kaine's Line of Questioning for Pete Hegseth Was

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  January 14, 2025 5:00 PM

Tuesday brought us the confirmation hearings for Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense. There very many fiery and memorable moments between Hegseth and Democratic senators, including Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who was also Hillary Clinton's running mate in 2016. Kaine, and other Democrats, voiced concerns about Hegseth's private life, including his infidelity and his previous marriages. Kaine even began by saying he had been "looking forward" to such questioning. 

The senator sought to bring up that infidelity in the context of sexual allegations made against Hegseth, with the nominee stressing he had been "falsely charged, fully investigated, and completely cleared."

With a lecturing tone towards the nominee, Kaine wondered, "So you think you are completely cleared because you committed no crime? That's your definition of 'cleared?' You had just fathered a child two months before by a woman that was not your wife! I am shocked," Kaine continued, as he threw up his hands, "that you would say 'you are completely cleared,' can you so casually cheat on a second wife, and cheat on the mother of your child that had been born two months before, and you tell us 'you are completely cleared?' How is that 'a complete clear?'"

Beyond the gross and intimate line of questioning from the animated senator, the sexual assault allegations are also separate issues from the infidelity that occurred in Hegseth's previous marriages. 

Once the senator had taken a break from denigrating the nominee and his family, Hegseth spoke up for that child. "Senator, her child's name is Gwendolyn Hope Hegseth, and she's a child of God and she is seven-years-old." That didn't stop Kaine from attacking Hegseth further, though.

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While Hegseth pointed out that "we're glad that she's here," Kaine still interrupted to emphasis his points further. "And you cheated on the mother of that child less than two months after that daughter was born, didn't you?"

"Those were false charges," Hegseth answered, keeping his cool, repeating that he was investigated and cleared, as Kaine again tried to speak over him. Even as Hegseth beckoned behind him to his wife, offering he was "so grateful for this amazing marriage that I have to this woman behind me," Kaine still wouldn't let it go.

"No, you've admitted," Kaine continued, wagging his finger, "you've admitted that you had sex at that hotel on [sic] October 2017. You said it was consensual," he insisted, demanding, "how do you explain your judgement?" Even as the nominee continued to remind Kaine, multiple times, that he had been cleared, Kaine didn't seem at all interested in actually hearing Hegseth's answers, and instead wanted to keep belaboring his points with uncomfortable questions. 

Kaine suddenly shifted to asking Hegseth how, "if it had been a sexual assault, that would be disqualifying to be Secretary of Defense, wouldn't it?" Hegseth continued to assert his innocence, insisting that the senator was bringing up "a hypothetical," as they were speaking about his own personal instance. 

"But you acknowledged that you cheated on your wife, you cheated on the woman who, by whom you had just fathered a child. You've admitted that?" Kaine continued, still evidently looking to embarrass Hegseth further. As Hegseth, in a humbled tone, offered, "I'll allow your words to speak for themselves," Kaine added, "you're not retracting that today, that's good," and went for an even more personal line of attack from there.

"I assume that at each of your weddings you've pledged to be faithful to your wife," Kaine continued. "You've taken an oath to do that, haven't you?" 

Hegseth, to his credit, gave the perfect response. "Senator, as I've acknowledged to everyone in this Committee, I'm not a perfect person, not claiming to be," he offered, though Kaine insisted he "just asked a simple question," one that was no doubt meant to embarrass and shame him further, and also applied his marriage "oath" to his oath to becoming Secretary of State.

"I have failed at things in my life. And thankfully I'm redeemed by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," Hegseth continued, repeating what he had powerfully communicated earlier, words which Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) pointed out would likely resonate with so many Americans. 

Kaine's line of questioning disgusted many, as evidenced in part by how such moments were a trending topic over X. 

While reacting to the confirmation hearing on CNN. Scott Jennings--who predicts that Hegseth will be confirmed, and that it's even more so likely due to that "embarrassing" display from Democrats --emphasized that he was "appalled" as one of his takeaways. 

"Well, in short, I think Pete Hegseth kicked their asses today," Jennings offered, speaking about how it went overall. "It wasn't even close. They didn't lay a glove on Hegseth, no mistakes, calm, cool, collected." Referencing the radical, left-wing protesters who attempted to disrupt the hearing just as it was kicking off, Jennings offered that such a "freak show" is "the Democratic base... which probably explains why the Democrats on the Committee acted in such a bizarre and unprofessional way!"

"I was appalled," Jennings continued, "at some of the ways these senators held themselves and some of the lines of questioning. I mean, Tim Kaine sounded like a sex pervert in his questioning of Pete Hegseth!" Jennings had plenty more Democrats to go after when it comes to these "unhinged rants."

"They made him look good today. It would be difficult for a Republican to vote against Hegseth after the Democrats' unseemly mudslinging today," Jennings further stressed. 

As if the line of questioning weren't bad enough all on its own, it also reeked of hypocrisy. The husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff, impregnated a woman when he was still married to his first wife and the mother of his children, with the marriage later dissolving. The woman did not have that child, and may have had an abortion or miscarriage. Harris and Emhoff are members of Kaine's own party, though, so that's likely different for reasons.

Amy Curtis at our sister site of Twitchy highlighted how users over X went after Kaine for campaigning with Emhoff. 

The hypocrisy goes even deeper from there, though, given Kaine's closeness with the Clintons. Former Bill Clinton had an affair with an intern in the Oval Office when he was president, and has been accused of sexual assault and even rape by other women. His wife, whom Kaine ran on the same ticket as, not only defended her husband, took part in smearing those women making the allegations, as even Vox went after her for.