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Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense, faces his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

Hegseth’s nomination has been embroiled in scandal, including allegations of sexual assault and right-wing extremism, all of which he has denied. The former Fox News host is expected to face tough questions from Senate Democrats about his past, including allegations of alcohol abuse and opposition to women in combat roles.

“There are major character issues that have been raised about his conduct that need to be considered,” Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, who will lead Tuesday’s hearing, said in an interview with USA TODAY.

Meanwhile, Hegseth recently told reporters, “I’m a different man than I was years ago, and it’s a redemption story that I think a lot of Americans appreciate.”

Here’s what you need to know.

Watch Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing

The hearing is expected to begin on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. ET, according to the Defense Committee’s websitewhich says it will have a live video.

Who is Pete Hegseth?

Hegseth, 44, is largely known for his eight years at Fox News and for writing the book “The War on Warriors.” Trump praised the book in his announcement, saying the book exposed “the left-wing betrayal of our warriors and how we must return our military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability and excellence.”

Hegseth served as an infantry officer in the US Army Reserve and National Guard in New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Washington, DC, between May 2001 and March 2021, a National Guard spokesman previously told USA TODAY.

An Army Times article in November notes that Hegseth’s experience is “radically different” from recent secretaries who had long active military careers and rose to the rank of senior officers.

Allegations of assault rocked the nomination

A woman claimed Hegseth sexually assaulted her in 2017 at a hotel in California, according to a Monterey Police Department report. The woman told police she had hazy memories of the encounter, but that she had repeated “no” and that Hegseth swiped her phone away and blocked the door with her body, according to police documents.

A lawyer for Hegseth, told more businesses in December that his client paid off the prosecutor in 2017 because he feared losing his job at Fox News. Hegseth has denied the accusation of sexual assault and was never charged.

Hegseth’s treatment of women came to the fore again after a letter written by his mother during his divorce from his second wife was published by the New York Times.

“You’re a woman abuser – that’s the ugly truth,” wrote Penelope Hegseth, accusing her son of “dishonesty, sleeping around, treachery, degrading, belittling” women. She later appeared on Fox News to defend him, saying her son “isn’t the man he was seven years ago.”

Accusations of drinking follow Hegseth

Hegseth has also been accused of abusing alcohol.

A story in the New Yorker magazine cited a whistleblower report says Hegseth was repeatedly intoxicated while running the nonprofit Concerned Veterans for America, including one incident in which he had to be carried out of one of the group’s events. Hegseth was pushed out of the group because of his alcohol abuse on the job, according to three sources cited in the story.

Six of Hegseth’s former employees at Fox News told The Washington Post they saw Hegseth drinking on the job or appearing intoxicated at work events.

Hegseth has rejected the report.

Hegseth’s controversial tattoo

Hegseth the podcaster said and former Navy Seal Shawn Ryan in November that he was removed from a National Guard for President Joe Biden’s inauguration because his superiors found his tattoos to be “extremist.”

Hegseth described the tattoo in question as a Jerusalem cross and a symbol of his Christian faith.

The This was reported by the Associated Press 12 members of the National Guard were removed from Biden’s inauguration ceremony over concerns about ties to extremist groups.

Starring: USA TODAY’s Tom Vanden Brook, Riley Beggin, Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Will Carless