Former Fox News anchor and military veteran Pete Hegseth will be the first of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet nominees to face Senate questioning. Hegseth will appear before the Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

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.

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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.

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Senate 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.