The top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee were briefed late Friday afternoon on the findings from the F.B.I.’s background check of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to serve as defense secretary, according to two people aware of the briefings.
Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi and the chairman of the armed services panel, and Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, its top Democrat, each huddled separately with transition team officials on Friday for over an hour, according to a person familiar with the briefings, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive proceedings. The transition team commissioned the background check.
It is traditional for only the chair and ranking member of panels on the findings from an F.B.I. background check of Cabinet nominees. During the sessions, the senators were able to review the findings and ask questions about them, but were not given copies of a report to share with their colleagues.
Since the results of the F.B.I.’s probe have not been shown to other members of the committee, several Democrats on the panel expressed concerns that they might not have relevant information for Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
With only days to go before Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation hearing, it appears increasingly unlikely that other senators on the panel will be shown that information before querying him about his fitness to run the Pentagon.
Rank-and-file Democrats have been up in arms about the lack of access, saying it is necessary for them to review the F.B.I.’s findings.
“I need to see his F.B.I. background check, we need to see his financial disclosures,” Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, said. “And we need to know about any other potential lawsuits he might be facing, any other allegations he might be facing.”
Public reports have documented accusations that Mr. Hegseth committed sexual assault, mismanaged the veterans’ nonprofits he ran and was frequently publicly intoxicated. Mr. Hegseth has said that the sexual assault allegation arose from a consensual encounter. He also told reporters last month that he was “a different man than I was years ago,” describing his evolution as “a redemption story.”
The allegations against Mr. Hegseth have failed to sway most Republican senators, many of whom have argued that senators should discount such claims unless the accusers were willing to come forward publicly.
Mr. Hegseth suggested to reporters last month that one whistle-blower report regarding his conduct at work was merely an “email from a disgruntled employee.”
Democrats on the committee believe there are additional allegations that should appear in the pages of an F.B.I. background check, to inform their questioning. That belief is based in part on information they have gleaned from individuals who have quietly approached Senate offices to divulge information about Mr. Hegseth.
“Damning is an understatement,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, referring to additional information about Mr. Hegseth that he has been made aware of that, in his estimation, ought to appear in the F.B.I. report. It was not clear what information he was referring to.
Mr. Blumenthal added that the fact that senators had not been promised access to Mr. Hegseth’s background check gave the “appearance of a cover-up.”
F.B.I. officials began calling and interviewing witnesses to Mr. Hegseth’s behavior last month, asking, among other subjects, whether Mr. Hegseth abused alcohol. But it not clear how many witnesses they reached, or how forthcoming those witnesses were.
Most Democrats on the panel have not yet had a chance to grill Mr. Hegseth personally. Some of them said that when they tried to schedule a meeting with Mr. Hegseth, they were told he would only be available beginning the week of Jan. 20 — the day Mr. Trump will be inaugurated, and the earliest day that the Senate could vote on his confirmation.
Sharon LaFraniere contributed reporting.
