Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) predicted Monday that former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) would struggle in his confirmation vote for his nomination as secretary of Defense, saying he couldn't "help but think there are a lot of people on the Democrat side having a hard time supporting Chuck Hagel."
"There are a lot of Democrats who have to be concerned," Inhofe told CNN's "Starting Point." "They have to be concerned with some of their Israeli friends, and the concern they have had consistently with Sen. Hagel in terms of things he has said."
Inhofe said that he believed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had badly bruised Hagel when, during the confirmation hearings, Cruz played clips of a Hagel appearance on an al Jazeera call-in program. Callers to the program suggested Israel had committed war crimes and that the United States was the "world's bully" — comments Hagel did not explicitly refute.
In his confirmation hearing, Hagel said he did not agree with the call-in guests and asked senators to examine "the full context of the interview."
But Inhofe predicted that, ultimately, Hagel's shaky testimony and history of controversial statements on Iran would couple to submarine his nomination.
"They're going to have a hard time standing up and voting for someone who has been so anti-Israel for so many years," Inhofe said.
That may be wishful thinking on the part of the Oklahoma legislator. Democrats appear united around Hagel, and at least two Republicans have indicated a willingness to vote for him. On Friday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the White House "believe[s] he will be confirmed."
Republicans could attempt a filibuster of Hagel, which would raise the threshold necessary for confirmation to 60 votes. Hagel would likely struggle to win over enough Republicans to secure 60 votes, although doing so runs a high risk for congressional Republicans already perceived as obstinate.
"I would be stunned if, in the end, Republican senators chose to try to block the nomination of a decorated war veteran who was once among their colleagues in the Senate as a Republican," Carney said Friday.
