Reed: Fbi Investigation Of Hegseth 'insufficient'

Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the FBI’s background check of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, “insufficient.”

The FBI’s background check of Hegseth did not include material from a woman who accused the nominee of sexual misconduct in 2017.

“You and I have both have seen the FBI background investigation of Hegseth and I want to say for the record the investigation was insufficient, frankly,” Reed said to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

Reed emphasized that FBI investigators did not have access to key witnesses nor an audit of Veterans for Freedom, the advocacy group that Hegseth led from 2008 to 2010.

Reed pointed out in his opening statement that the group had an annual budget of less than $10 million and each year that Hegseth was in charge, its “expenses far exceeded revenues, until the organization teetered on bankruptcy.”

Reed noted that according to “public reporting,” an independent forensic accountant found “evidence of gross financial mismanagement” at the organization.

“There are still FBI obligations to talk to people. They have not had access to the forensic audit, which I referenced to and which the person had access to was quite critical of Mr. Hegseth,” Reed said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the committee, is calling for senators to have access to the testimony of additional witnesses.

“We need to be able to talk to all the people in Hegseth’s background who are raising serious concerns about his fitness to serve,” she told reporters Monday.