Sen. Angus King of Maine questioned President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Defense during a contentious hearing Tuesday, asking Pete Hegseth about his past statements on women in combat and international rules of warfare.

Hegseth testified before the Senate Committee on Armed Services, of which King is a member, for a confirmation hearing on his nomination.

The former Fox News host and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has come under scrutiny for statements he made about women not belonging in combat and about accusations of excessive drinking, sexual assault and financial mismanagement during his time running veterans’ organizations.

Democrats focused tough questioning on all of those subjects, while Republicans — who represent the majority in the Senate — defended Hegseth and praised his qualifications.

While King was able to participate in the hearing, many are keeping a close eye on Maine’s other senator, Susan Collins.

Collins, as one of a small number of moderate Republicans, could be an influential vote on the nomination and met with Hegseth last month. Republicans can only afford to lose three votes in the Senate and still have enough support to have a nominee confirmed, so all eyes are on Collins and a few other moderates who aren’t necessarily Trump loyalists.

Collins has not yet said if she will support Hegseth. Her office did not make her available Tuesday in response to a request for an interview to discuss the nomination and hearing.

King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, also has not said how he will vote. But he joined Democrats in asking Hegseth about his view of women in the military and a passage in his book, “The War on Warriors,” in which he wrote that “it should be boys” who are sent to fight.

“You’ve testified here today that you believe in women in combat, but you didn’t just last year. How do you explain your conversion?” King asked.

Hegseth replied that writing a book is different than serving as secretary of defense.

“My comment there was about the burdensome rules of engagement that members of our generation, men and women, have seen on the battlefield,” he said.

King also asked Hegseth if he thinks provisions established by the Geneva Conventions creating standards for the treatment of civilians and soldiers during wars should be repealed.

“How we treat our wounded, how we treat our prisoners, the applications of the Geneva Conventions are incredibly important,” Hegseth said. “But we would all have to acknowledge that the way we fought our wars back when the Geneva Conventions were written are a lot different than the asymmetric, nonconventional counterinsurgency I encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

King followed up by asking if that means Hegseth believes torture is OK.

“That is not what I said,” Hegseth said. “I’ve never been party to torture. We are a country that fights by the rule of law. Our men and women always do. Yet we have too many people here, in air-conditioned offices, that like to point fingers at the guys in dark and dangerous places … who are doing things that people in Washington, D.C., would never dare to do.”

King also asked Hegseth if he would oversee an end to U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia and said he is concerned that if the U.S. abandons Ukraine, it could send a message to China that they can take Taiwan without significant resistance.

Hegseth responded that Trump has made it clear he wants to see an end to the Ukraine war.

“We know who the aggressor is; we know who the good guy is,” Hegseth said. “We’d like to see it as advantageous for the Ukrainians as possible, but that war needs to come to an end.”

King was not available for an interview Tuesday afternoon following the hearing.

He told CNN earlier in the day that the “standard must be very high” for selecting a defense secretary. “He’s in the chain of command,” King said. “He’s in the chain of nuclear weapons use. This is a critically important national security position.”

A spokesperson for the senator said the committee may vote as soon as Monday on the nomination. If approved, it would then go to the full Senate.