Illinois senator on Trump cabinet nominations and aid to Israel

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) spoke to Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation about the Trump cabinet nominations.

On Thursday, former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his name as President-Elect Donald Trump's pick for Attorney General after meeting with senators, with Brennan saying that CBS reported that 15 Republicans opposed him.

When asked if her Republican colleagues in the Senate "will hold the line," or if she's concerned that "they will just greenlight anyone Trump nominates," Duckworth said:

"I'm deeply concerned that they will green light. I'm glad that they held the line on him. I'm also glad that they voted the way they did for the Republican leader, but that was in the secret ballot when they elected Senator Thune. And you know, Mr. Trump's main choice for that position was not selected. But from what I'm hearing from my Republican colleagues on everything from defense secretary to other posts, it sounds like they are ready to roll over for Mr. Trump."

During the interview, Brennan and Duckworth talked about President-Elect Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth's comments about women in comment, with Hegseth saying, "I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated."

When asked if her and her colleagues believe that Hegseth's statement presents issues that he needs to retract, Duckworth said:

"I think they need to, because he's wrong. Our military could not go to war without the 220,000 plus women who serve in uniform. The women in our military does make us more effective, does make us more lethal. And let me just make one thing clear, the women who are in those very particular roles, whether it's in special forces or the COs or the infantry, they meet the same standards as the men. And so he's been out there saying that, you know, women are not as strong. We don't. The ones who are in those roles have met the same standards as the men and have passed the very rigorous testing. And so he's just flat out wrong. Our military could not go to war without the women who wear this uniform. And frankly, America's daughters are just as capable of defending liberty and freedom as her sons."

Duckworth, who served in combat herself, added, "It just shows his lack of understanding of where our military is. He was a pretty low ranking guy in the military, and he never had a command position. He was a platoon leader, I think, once or twice, but he never even commanded a company."

Talks then came to Hegseth acknowledging that he paid a woman back in 2017 after she accused him of sexual assault, which Hegseth claimed it was consensual sex. When asked if the committee is going to speak with the victim to ask if this was a misunderstanding, Duckworth said:

"That will be the decision of the Republican chairman of the committee next year. I hope that we will, but I suspect that they, again, will roll over for Mr. Trump. Frankly, I will raise those questions. Remember that we've just fought over a decade of fights and overhauled the military and its treatment of military sexual trauma. It's frankly an insult and really troubling that Mr. Trump would nominate someone who has admitted that he's paid off a victim who has claimed rape allegations against him. This is not the kind of person you want to lead the Department of Defense."

Later in the interview, Brennan and Duckworth talked about aid to Israel, with the latter voting against "three resolutions of disapproval this past week that would have paused very specific offensive weapons shipments to Israel," with her colleague, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), saying it was about getting Israel to comply to U.S. law.

When asked how she responded to that as well as being asked why Israel shouldn't be held to the "same standards as other recipients of U.S. aid," Duckworth said:

"Well, I respect Senator Van Hollen's position, and in fact, I have co-signed many of the letters that he's led that has called on Israel to comply with humanitarian standards across the world. My decision comes from my military experience, the fact that many of these rounds were not going to be delivered for a couple of years, the fact that, you know, these are resolutions, they don't actually have binding effect. And frankly, for me, my decision came from the fact that we have tens of thousands of US troops in harm's way right now, and I am deeply concerned that resolution, that doesn't actually do anything, might embolden the Houthis and the Iranian regime and Hamas to further target and American troops abroad. So I respect Chris. He and I are good friends. We were freshmen in the Senate together, but we come at this from slightly different angles, mine from 23 years of military experience, but I do share his concern about the brutal way that Israel has acted in Gaza, and you know, I've co-signed many of his letters."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Duckworth, click here.