New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz claims senators underestimated Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearing, labelling him as “very smart”.

Her remarks come after Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Donald Trump’s pick for defence secretary during the hearing.

“Elizabeth Warren thinks that she’s very, very smart and she did not think that Pete Hegseth was smart,” Ms Markowicz said.

“A lot of people were surprised at how intelligent he is … a lot of these politicians were unprepared for that.”