Former Fox News anchor and military veteran Pete Hegseth was the first of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet nominees to face Senate questioning. Hegseth he appeared before the Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.Hegseth is Trump's controversial choice for defense secretary. According to a detailed investigative report made public in November, a woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room, and refused to let her leave. Hegseth told police the incident was consensual.The incident is one of several that could introduce scandal to Hegseth's confirmation hearing. The New York Times published a letter to Hegseth from his mother, Penelope, in which she accused him of being a longtime and repeated abuser of women. Amid the controversies, Trump has stood by Hegseth as he has worked to shore up support among senators.Hegseth addressed the allegations head-on during the hearing. "And what became very evident to us from the beginning, there was a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us," he said. "All they were out to do, Mr. Chairman, was to destroy me. And why do they want to destroy me? Because I'm a change agent and a threat to them because Donald Trump was willing to choose me, to empower me, to bring the Defense Department back to what it really should be, which is warfighting."Moments into Tuesday's hearing, several protesters were led out of the hearing. One protester was screaming about veteran suicides, while another was yelling about the war between Israel and Gaza.RELATED STORY | Trump's bold annexation plans get strong rebuttal from Canada, DenmarkSenate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker called Hegseth's nomination "unconventional" and added "just like that New York developer who rode down the escalator in 2015," referring to Trump. But the leading Democrat on the committee, Sen. Jack Reed, said, "Mr. Hegseth, I do not believe you're qualified for this job."Final confirmation votes require only a simple majority, so Republicans don't need Democrats if they remain united. But dissenters can use the hearings to delay the process and emphasize their concerns.Defeat of a president-elect's pick to head a federal agency is rare and hasn't occurred since 1989. That's largely because those who stand little chance of getting confirmed usually withdraw.Generally, the secretary of defense is among the first nominees to be confirmed by the Senate after the inauguration of a president. It is not uncommon for the Senate to confirm the defense nominee within hours of the inauguration.RELATED STORY | Police report reveals assault allegations against Trump's defense nominee HegsethSenate confirmation hearings pick up in earnest on Wednesday with seven separate hearings. Among them, secretary of state nominee Sen. Marco Rubio will go before the Foreign Relations Committee, and attorney general nominee Pam Bondi will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.Hegseth wouldn't rule out military force in GreenlandSen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked Hegseth if he would be willing to commit U.S. troops to acquire Greenland. He would not give a direct answer. "Senator, one of the things that President Trump is so good at is never strategically tipping his hand, and so I would never in this public forum give one way or another direct what orders the president would give to me in any context," he said. Women to serve in combat rolesHegseth backtracked on comments he previously made on women serving in combat roles, saying that women would continue to serve on the front lines. "Yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, combat roles, given the standards remain high and will have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded in any one of these cases. That'll be part of one of the first things we do at the Pentagon is reviewing that in a gender-neutral way, the standards ensuring readiness and meritocracy is front and center, but absolutely," he said.