Following a meeting with Pete Hegseth, on Thursday, Dec. 5, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Senator-elect Jim Banks (R-IN) released the following statement:

“Pete Hegseth is a decorated veteran and a patriot who will always put America first. Pete is focused on what I’m focused on which is getting wokeness out of the military and making our Department of Defense lethal again. And Pete Hegseth won’t back down. He won’t back down from the media, or from the bureaucracy and he won’t back down from China, Iran or Russia. He’s going to make America strong again and our enemies fear us again.”