Defense Department nominee Pete Hegseth’s plan to release a woman who accused him of sexual assault from a confidentiality agreement sets the stage for a media circus that Senate Republicans are calling Kavanaugh 2.0, a reference to the brutal Supreme Court confirmation fight of 2018.

Hegseth vigorously denies the allegation and says he’s going to plow through the Senate confirmation process despite warnings from GOP senators that it is likely to get ugly.

“I told him it’s going to be a miserable experience, sort of like Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). The battle grew so fierce that Capitol police arrested dozens of protesters in the Senate office buildings and had to escort key senators as they walked through the halls.

Cornyn says senators are “open” to confirming Hegseth, but they want to go through the confirmation process and will be looking for “new information” that may shed light on his fitness to lead the Pentagon.

“They want the process to continue and we’ll respond to any new information that they get,” he said.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he fears the battle over Hegseth’s nomination could be worse than the brawl that erupted over Kavanaugh years ago.

“Everything is going to be elevated. I think it’s going to be Kavanaugh on steroids,” said Tillis.

The clash among senators over Kavanaugh was so intense that two former Democratic senators, Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.), later thought it might have cost them their seats in the 2018 election.

Much hinges on whether Hegseth’s accuser would be willing to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee, something that would be a crucial development, according to senators.

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