New Delhi: Senator Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, directly questioned Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary pick, about President-elect Donald’s Trump’s aspirations to take over Greenland and Panama Canal. She also asked him about Trump’s threat to make Canada the 51st US state.
Senator Mazie Hirono raised the questions to defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth in a confirmation hearing on Tuesday held by the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
“Will you carry out an order from Trump to seize Greenland, a territory of our NATO ally Denmark, by force or would you comply with an order to take over Panama Canal?” Senator Mazie Hirono asked Hegseth.
Responding to her question, Pete Hegseth said that he would like to emphasise that Trump received 77 million votes to be the lawful Commander-in-Chief of this country. Senator Mazie Hirono interrupted him, asking him not to talk about the elections, while reiterating her question: “Would you use our military to take over Greenland?” Pete Hegseth tried to skirt the question by saying that what Trump is so good at is never strategically tipping his hand, and so “I would never in this public forum give one way or another….”
Interrupting him again, the Senator said, “That sounds to me that you will contemplate carrying out such an order to basically invade Greenland and take over the Panama Canal.”
US President-elect Donald Trump picked Fox News personality Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defence, the decision, which surprised many. Hegseth who worked with the channel since 2015, had also served the country in Afghanistan and Iraq. The 44-year-old was also a part of Concerned Veterans for America, a group supported by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch.
