Pete Hegseth is about to Take the Hot Seat at the Senate
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Pete Hegseth is about to take the hot seat at the Senate. I'm Dave Anthony, Fox News. We don't need a general from the Pentagon. We've tried that. We need a drill sergeant. Republicans like Senator Tommy Tuberville are rallying around the defense secretary nominee. Senator Jim Banks tells Fox there are hundreds of veterans showing up to support him. Pete Hegseth is going to get the military back. Instead of focusing on all the woke political crap that the Biden administration and Lloyd Austin did,

and all of these, the clown show at the Pentagon over the last four years, they were more focused on wokeness than readiness. But Fox's Madeline Rivera reports from outside the hearing room. Democrats are expected to grill Hegseth on a number of issues. They question his qualifications, expressing concerns over whether he would be able to lead the federal government's largest agency. And also they'll be focused on sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement allegations that Hegseth denies.

The special counsel who got President-elect Trump indicted twice released his report in the federal election interference case since dropped, alleging Trump committed crimes trying to retain power in 2020.

President-elect in a Truth Social post calls Jack Smith deranged and the findings fake. There's progress reported on a deal that may be imminent in Gaza for an Israeli ceasefire and Hamas hostage release. There's a new wildfire north of Los Angeles in Ventura County. The strong winds pick back up, threatening to worsen a disaster that killed at least 24 people.

Just in the last few minutes, officials saying they're making a lot of progress in tamping down that area. But it's a sign of what they're facing in the next 48 hours because the National Weather Service also moments ago noting that they have already had wind gusts of 72 miles an hour. Fox's Griff Jenkins among the ashes in Chard Malibu. We just got an update showing inflation rising back up annually. Wholesale prices rose two-tenths of a percent last month over November. But year over year, the rate of inflation increased to 3.3%.

America's listening to Fox News. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy, host of the Trey Gowdy Podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com.

We mentioned the Pete Hegseth confirmation hearing that will start this hour, putting the Trump defense secretary nominee on a hot seat. Well, two other hearings were also supposed to start today but will not. Department of Veterans Affairs nominee Doug Collins and Department of Interior nominee Doug Burgum both having their confirmation hearings postponed due to issues with paperwork.

The FBI has not yet completed the background check for Collins, and the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs chairman, Jerry Moran, says he expects the review to be completed quickly. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is still waiting for the Office of Government Ethics to complete its review of Burgum's paperwork. Chairman Mike Lee says, quote, this bureaucratic delay is unacceptable and that the hearing has been moved to Thursday. On Capitol Hill, Ryan Schmelz.

Fox News. Now in six days, President-elect Trump will return to the White House and

He'll like what Texas and Florida are doing defying a Biden order. In declaring the official period of mourning for the death of President Jimmy Carter, President Joe Biden ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff for 30 days. That would include President Donald Trump's inauguration next Monday. Now both Florida and Texas say they will not fully comply, with the governors there ordering all flags in their states be raised to full staff on January 20th.

Governor Greg Abbott of Texas says his state honors the life of the late President Carter, but must celebrate the service of President Trump. In Broward County, Florida, Eben Brown, Fox News. Stocks could rise on Wall Street, Dow and Nasdaq futures, both up before the opening bell. And the NFL playoffs are ramming last night. Darno, balls out, picked up by Burse.

Off to the races. The L.A. defense scored a touchdown and shut down Minnesota. The Rams 27-9 win over the Vikings on ESPN. The game was played in Arizona, moved out of Los Angeles because of the wildfire disaster. I'm Dave Anthony. This is Fox News.