Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, was taking questions from Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) when she challenged him to share his knowledge about even just one member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

In his book, Hegseth clearly says that some women are indeed the equal of men, and he himself has known many “phenomenal” female soldiers. The problem, as he sees it, is that woke ideologues require every woman to be regarded as being as successful as every man.

In a heated Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, Sen. Tammy Duckworth grilled the proposed defense secretary over the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, asking him if he could name one member and how many countries were in the bloc.

Republicans appear poised to confirm Trump's controversial nominee to lead the government's largest and most complex agency

But did this happen at the Pete Hegseth hearings in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee this week? If you thought those kinds of questions would dominate the hearings, you must be living under the illusion that we live in a serious country.

During his confirmation hearing, Trump’s Defense Secretary nominee couldn’t name a single member of the Southeast Asian bloc.

Hegseth is set to begin confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill. In his opening statement obtained by NBC News, he leans into his outside perspective. “It’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm,” he is expected to say. NBC’s Ryan Nobles reports for "TODAY."

Sen. Tammy Duckworth put Pete Hegseth’s foreign policy chops to the test during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday as President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon. The Illinois Democrat asked Hegseth to name one country in ASEAN,

In a heated Senate confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was unable to name a single country from the Association

Some of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks struggled to answer basic questions during their Senate confirmation hearings this week. There was litany of obfuscation and waffling across the board,

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy announced Friday that he would vote to confirm Pete Hegseth to lead the U.S. Department of Defense.