Updated: Critical of a lack of documentation, late delivery and inadequate disclosure, Sen. Inhofe’s spoke today at the opening of Senate hearings on the nomination of Sen. Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.
Sen. Inhofe:
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I join you in welcoming Senator Hagel before this committee and appreciate his continued willingness to serve the United States and the men and women of our Armed Forces.
“Before I continue with my opening statement, I’d like to raise concern about the sufficiency of the materials provided to this committee by our nominee. Senator Hagel only provided four speeches to the committee even though his financial disclosure form reveals that he received honoraria for giving 12 speeches in the last year alone. Late last night just hours before the today’s hearing began the committee received nearly 230 pages of additional speeches given by the nominee.