Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth's announcement followed a heated exchange with Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearing earlier this week.

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

During Tuesday's confirmation hearing, Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois told defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth that she doesn't believe he is qualified for the job. Sen. Duckworth is a former Army helicopter pilot who lost her legs in a crash while serving in Iraq and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) continued her attacks on President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, during an appearance on The View, saying he is not qualified for the job. ABC News’s The View co-host Sara Haines asked the Illinois senator about Hegseth’s previous comments about women serving in combat and how it could lead

A senator told Hegseth: "I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations."

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.

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

Hegseth responded at the heated Senate confirmation hearing that he couldn’t tell Duckworth the exact number of ASEAN nations, but that “I know we have allies in South Korea and Japan in AUKUS (a pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S.) with Australia.”

"If Samantha Hegseth, Pete Hegseth's second (and now ex-)wife ... Democratic Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, to The New York Times: "I need to see [Hegseth's] FBI background check. We need to see his financial disclosures. And we need to know about ...

On "Forbes Newsroom," Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) slammed Pete Hegseth as unqualified to be Secretary of Defense, and said that Sen. Joni Ernst's (R-IA) and other Republican Senators backing Hegseth are not putting "the national security of America over their own political survival.

As Republicans rail against DEI and diversity hires, they're trying to fill the government with unqualified and lackluster associates of Trump.