Retired Navy Adm. Nancy Lacore Calls Hegseth 'Most Unqualified' Defense Secretary in U.S. History

South Carolina's congresswoman-elect accuses the Pentagon chief of undermining military readiness as Democrats weigh congressional oversight and potential impeachment proceedings.

WASHINGTON | Retired Navy Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, a newly elected Democratic member of Congress who was removed from her military leadership position in 2025, has delivered a blistering assessment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of damaging America's military readiness and national security.

Lacore, who won South Carolina's 1st Congressional District in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, sharply criticized Hegseth during a Sunday appearance on CBS News' "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

Her remarks come as Democrats prepare for a new Congress and questions intensify over Pentagon leadership, military personnel decisions, national security priorities and the possibility of impeachment proceedings.

Lacore's election also marks a historic political milestone, bringing a retired three-star Navy admiral into Congress following a closely contested victory in a traditionally Republican district.

In Kansas, Both Sides Twist the Facts in Accusations of Protecting Pedophiles

Democratic groups accuse Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of protecting Jeffrey Epstein's associates, while a GOP super PAC claims Democrat Adam Hamilton shielded a child abuser. Court records, congressional votes and investigative reporting reveal significant omissions in both attacks.

TOPEKA, Kan. | In Kansas’ tight Senate race, ads from Democratic and Republican outside groups are accusing the other party’s candidate of having protected pedophiles. In both cases, the attacks are misleading or unsupported by the evidence.

Ads from Democratic groups misleadingly claim Sen. Roger Marshall, the Republican incumbent, helped cover up Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes by voting to keep the Epstein files under wraps while taking money from the convicted sex offender’s “associates.” 

Marshall supported the November 2025 law that required the Justice Department to publicly release the files. He previously voted against a Democratic amendment calling for the files’ release, saying he opposed attaching it to an unrelated defense bill. As for the purported Epstein “associates,” they’re people whose names appear incidentally in the files but had no documented contact with Epstein, or whose interactions with him were limited. None has been accused of wrongdoing.

An ad from a Republican group, meanwhile, claims Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton, a pastor, “protected a pedophile” accused of molesting teenage boys two decades ago at a camp his church ran.

According to court records reviewed by local news outlets, the boys reported the abuse but couldn’t identify the culprit, and the church didn’t notify police. It’s unclear what role Hamilton played in that decision. The next year, a camp volunteer was caught and reported to police. Hamilton has acknowledged that the church could have handled the situation better, but there’s no evidence he knowingly protected a predator.

The Cook Political Report rates the Kansas race as one of several toss-ups that could determine control of the Senate on Nov. 3. President Donald Trump campaigned for Marshall in Kansas on Nov. 1, the president’s second rally in the state in two weeks.

Explaining the Case of the Two Dan Sullivans on Alaska’s Ballot

A second Republican candidate named Sullivan sparked a legal battle, allegations of political manipulation and an extraordinary Justice Department intervention in Alaska's closely watched Senate contest between incumbent Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska | In the Alaska Senate race, the candidacy of retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. — not the incumbent Republican senator, Dan S. Sullivan — has been the subject of months of legal wrangling. But the issue took on increased national prominence this past week. 

At the behest of President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice took the unusual step on Oct. 22 of filing a preemptive lawsuit arguing that if Sen. Sullivan doesn’t win reelection, and if he loses to his Democratic opponent Mary Peltola by fewer votes than Daniel J. Sullivan gets, the state should “not certify any election result that may be impacted by voter confusion.”

Then, on Oct. 28, the New York Times dropped a story saying it had uncovered evidence that “operatives aligned with Mary Peltola” helped to recruit Daniel J. Sullivan and others to run for the Senate seat in an attempt to siphon votes away from the incumbent Sullivan. The next day, in response to the Times story, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, ordered a criminal investigation to determine if any Alaska criminal laws were violated.

Trump, meanwhile, has weighed in, calling the issue “voter fraud at the highest level” and saying, “Peltola should resign from the race. I think she should be prosecuted criminally for what she did.”

On Oct. 29, Peltola denied she had any knowledge of or participation in recruiting another Dan Sullivan to run in the race.

“I just want to clear the air,” Peltola said. “I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters.”

With less than a week until Election Day, we’ll lay out the facts of what’s known so far, and the legal history leading up to this point.