00:00Mr. Hexhep, how are you feeling about the process so far?
00:06I was re-meeting with Senator Joni Ernst yesterday.
00:10What did President-elect Trump tell you, Mr. Hexhep?
00:12He's behind us all the way.
00:14I spoke to him this morning.
00:16Do you think you have the votes to get confirmed?
00:18That's why we're here, to meet with senators.
00:20It's been a wonderful process.
00:22There's an incredible amount of knowledge in the U.S. Senate,
00:26the Senate Armed Services Committee,
00:28the women who have studied these issues,
00:30have invested their lives in it,
00:32and as someone who's hoping to earn their support
00:34as the nominee for Secretary of Defense,
00:36I welcome that knowledge, I welcome that advice,
00:39and that's why we're here.
00:41I know that there's allegations out there.
00:43They have been unsubstantiated at this stage of the game.
00:46I talked to him about that.
00:48I gave him some suggestions, some advice
00:50about how he might be able to handle that.
00:52I'm looking forward to getting information from him
00:55in terms of responding to those allegations,
00:58but I really do see a path forward for him
01:00to be successful in being accepted by the Senate
01:04for this position, but he's got more work to do.
01:07I think he's capable of doing that,
01:09and I think the open hearings will help
01:13so that he can respond publicly
01:15to the allegations that have been made.
01:17Pete Hexhep went a long way today, in my opinion,
01:20in getting my full support,
01:22but I want him to be able to answer in front of everybody else
01:25the questions that are there and to do a good job on it,
01:28and that was my advice to him was come prepared,
01:30be prepared to answer the questions,
01:32but look, I really think the president's got the right approach
01:36in this particular nominee in terms of his vision
01:39for making the Department of Defense more lethal.
01:42I think that's what the American people want.
01:44So I just had a great meeting with Pete,
01:47the next Secretary of Defense.
01:49I'll tell you why I support him.
01:51I admire people that are willing to put on the uniform
01:54and lead troops into battle.
01:56I'm very proud of my father.
01:58He's one of 3,000 people that did all four combat jumps
02:00with the A2 Airborne and after that fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
02:03I'm very proud of him.
02:05Same way I'm proud of Pete.
02:07There's not a lot of Americans that have been willing to put on the uniform
02:10and have actually led troops in battle and brought them back safely
02:13and knows people that lost their lives,
02:16knows people that are injured.
02:18When he goes to the Department of Defense,
02:20he's going to begin with the mentality that he's going to take care of our warfighters.
02:23He's going to make sure they have the right equipment
02:25and are not put in harm's way when they shouldn't be put in harm's way.
02:28He's not going to support forever wars.
02:30He's not going to support going into battle where we don't even have a plan.
02:34So I think he's going to do a great job.
02:36I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he's confirmed as the Secretary of Defense.
02:39I think we all have to really appreciate the people
02:44that are willing to put on the uniform and defend the freedom of this country.
02:48Thank you very much.
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