Defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel was challenged during his confirmation hearing on Thursday by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham to name “one person in your opinion who is intimidated by the Israeli lobby in the United States.” Mr. Hagel could not.
Moments later, Mr. Graham asked him to name “one dumb thing we’ve been goaded into doing because of the Israeli lobby.” Mr. Hagel could not.
Mr. Graham’s questions were in reference to statements made in 2008 by then-Sen. Hagel, in which he said: “The Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here. I’m not an Israeli senator. I’m a United States senator. This pressure makes us do dumb things at times.”
Mr. Hagel then ended his exchange with Mr. Graham by saying that he should not have made the remarks in the first place.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.