Senator Tommy Tuberville

We need a drill sergeant in the military. We need somebody to straighten the military out to get the WOKE, the DEI affiliation out and go from there.

No, I've looked at all the personal stuff. And again, I've known him for a long time. And I would, there's not going to be anything to this at the end of the day.

Do you believe it is possible to stand up a full mission to the moon and a full mission to the Mars simultaneously?

We've got, as I've said, people on the Republican side for some reason that they're trying to push the envelope too much. We need to get President Trump his people. And I know we're up here for confirmation. But I'm going to take President Trump's word that the people he picks are vetted and that the type of people that he needs.

It's just hard to watch what's going on up here because it's Republicans versus the Democrats in the media. You know, they gang up on us up here.

Not right now. We've got three or four of these nominees fighting to get all the Republican votes. They're fighting hard and they're having to go see senators more than once. It makes no sense to me whatsoever.

So the attack sequencing and timing and weapons and targets you don't consider should have been classified?

We need to enact strong policies that are gonna help this administration accomplish the mission that the American people spoke loudly and clearly about in November.

We have a responsibility to be in this fight. State and local officials in Florida must help the Trump administration enforce our nation's immigration laws. And we are going to need, in order to do that effectively, we are going to need legislation to impose additional duties on local officials and provide funding for those local officials.

There also needs to be measures to hold people accountable who are violating our anti-sanctuary policies. And then Florida needs to make sure that we don't have any lingering incentives for people to come into our state illegally.

Can you tell me and this committee what the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment says?

If you want to do work requirements, I'm all for that. I bet every Republican and I bet most Americans would agree with that. But we're not talking here about just work requirements. The House goes much, much, much further than that.

Caught me totally off guard there. I'd like to submit for the record signatures by 32 members of the House of Representatives who are veterans. The signatures call on the Senate to honor the constitutional duty of advice and consent by conducting a fair, thorough confirmation process that evaluates his nomination solely on substance and merits.

His distinguished military service, academic credentials, and a bold vision for revitalizing the national fence. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record.

You know, there's a lot of talk going about talking about qualifications and then about us hiring him if we are the board. But there's a lot of senators here I wouldn't have on my board because there is no qualifications except your age. And you've got to be living in the state and you're a citizen of the United States to be a senator. In fact, we've got to convince a lot of people to vote for us.

And then when we start talking about qualifications for if you're qualified for it, could the chairman tell me what the qualifications are for the secretary of defense? Mr. Chairman, could you tell me what the qualifications are for the Secretary of Defense?

Let me read it for you.

I'm just making a point because there's a lot about qualifications. I think it's so hypocritical of senators, especially on the other side of the aisle, to be talking about his qualifications, not about a lead senator.

the secretary or be the secretary of defense and yet your qualifications aren't any better you guys aren't any more qualified to be the senator than i'm qualified to be the center except we're lucky enough to be here but let me read you what the qualifications of the secretary of defense is because i googled it and i googled it and went through a lot of different sites and really it's hard to see but in general the u.s secretary of defense position is filled by a civilian that's it

If you have served in the U.S. Army Forces and have been in the service for, you have to be retired for at least seven years, and Congress can weigh that. And then there's questions that the senator from Massachusetts brought up about serving on a board. inside the military industry.

And yet your own secretary that you all voted for, Secretary of Austin, we had to vote on a waiver because he stepped off the board of Raytheon. But I guess that's okay because that's a Democrat secretary of defense. But we so quickly forget about that. And then Senator King, or I guess I better use the Senator from Virginia, starts bringing up the fact that what if you showed up drunk to your job?

How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign from their job? And don't tell me you haven't seen it because I know you have. And then how many senators do you know have got a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did you ask them to step down? No. But it's for show.

You guys make sure you make a big show and point out the hypocrisy because a man's made a mistake. And you want to sit there and say that he's not qualified. Give me a joke. It is so ridiculous that you guys hold yourself as this higher standard. You forget you got a big plank in your eye. We've all made mistakes. I've made mistakes. And Jennifer, thank you for loving him through that mistake.

Because the only reason why I'm here and not in prison is because my wife loved me too. I have changed, but I'm not perfect. But I found somebody that thought I was perfect. And for whatever reason, you love Pete, and I don't know why. But just like our Lord and Savior forgave me, my wife's had to forgive me more than once too, and I'm sure you've had to forgive him too. And so thank you.

So before I go down this rabbit hole again, tell me something about your wife that you love.

No, no. Well, she's also the mother.

I'm trying to help you here. You know, do you believe that you're going to be running the secretary or the Department of Defense by yourself?

So in your organizations that you did have the privilege of running, did you have a board?

Okay, and what did you do with that board? What kind of decisions did you make with him? Those boards provided oversight and insight into decision-making. They all have special, unique sets that maybe filled gaps that you're not the expertise in? Yes, sir.

So do you believe you're capable of surrounding yourself with capable individuals that you're going to be able to run those same ideas by and surround yourself with people that are smarter and better equipped and maybe areas that you don't necessarily carry expertise with?

Let me end with this, Mr. Chairman, about the qualifications. You got a man who has literally put his butt on the line. He served 20 years in service, multiple deployments, has heard the bullets crack over the top of his head, has been willing to go into combat, been willing to see friends die for this country. And he's willing to still put himself through this.

His wife is willing to still stand beside him, knowing he wasn't perfect, knowing that all this was going to be brought up. And he's still willing to serve the country. What other qualifications does he need?