By Liz Goodwin, Marianne LeVine, Leigh Ann Caldwell · The Washington Post (c) 2024
Donald Trump’s embattled pick to lead the Department of Defense continued his outreach on Capitol Hill on Thursday, picking up words of praise from Republican senators but not significant new pledges of support.
With his wife by his side, the former Fox News personality and combat veteran Pete Hegseth has answered questions about his personal life in days of back-to-back meetings with senators and has also said he would submit to an FBI background check and would eagerly defend himself in a confirmation hearing.
But he still appears in danger of falling short of 50 votes, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. Several key GOP senators said they have not been lobbied to support Hegseth, and Trump has not publicly pushed them to back the pick in recent days. On Thursday, Trump posted a NYPost article on TruthSocial defending Hegseth.
“We’re going to earn those votes,” Hegseth told reporters Thursday afternoon. “We’re fighting all the way through the tape.”
One Republican close to Trump said that Hegseth’s best chance of success at this point is to show Trump that he is fighting for his confirmation. “That’s the only thing that’s going to save him,” said the Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly. Hegseth has been told not to expect Trump to apply pressure to Republican senators to get him over the finish line, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
But Hegseth’s confirmation appears particularly precarious given Trump has weighed tapping someone else, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for the post, and Trump has not, as some expected, pressured senators to back him as he twists in the wind on the Hill.
The president-elect has not lobbied senators on Hegseth’s behalf, according to one Republican senator granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Trump has given the impression that he expects his nominees to sink or swim on their own once tapped, the senator said.
So far, he still appears to face a tough path. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a combat veteran and survivor of sexual assault, appeared on Fox News to reiterate she is not ready to vote for Trump’s pick, who faces allegations of heavy drinking, financial mismanagement of a veterans’ non profit, and sexual misconduct-all of which he denies. Ernst, a member of the Armed Services Committee that Hegseth’s confirmation would pass through, met with him on Wednesday.
“I think for a number of our senators they want to make sure that any allegations have been cleared, and that’s why we have to have a very thorough vetting,” she said.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), another member of the committee, emerged from a Thursday morning meeting with the former Fox News personality and said it was “encouraging,” but he also was not ready yet to commit to back him.
“I really do see a path forward for him to be successful in being accepted by the Senate for this position, but he’s got more work to do,” said Rounds, who said Hegseth would need to respond to the allegations in a confirmation hearing.
Hegseth has stressed that Trump wants him in the job.
“As long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I’m going to be standing right here in this fight,” he said. And some MAGA allies have threatened Republican senators with primaries if they do not fall in line.
He has alsopicked up the support of some conservative senators, including Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Sen-elect Jim Banks of Indiana. And one senator who expressed grave doubts about reports of Hegseth’s drinking, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), said he was heartened by Hegseth’s vow to stop drinking if confirmed to the role and leaned toward supporting him.
The majority of senators are remaining non-committal, however, saying they’ll see how the process plays out.
“I’ve taken the posture right now that my colleagues are going to fully vet, have thorough hearings and if it comes out with a strong Republican vote on the committees that I’m not on I’m inclined to support him,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
Asked if she believed Hegseth would get confirmed, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said: “I really don’t know. I think if he gets out of the committee he’ll probably be.”
Hegseth and his allies have launched an aggressive counterattack to the slew of bad news coming out about him. Six of his former co-workers at Fox News told The Washington Post he had a reputation for heavy drinking. A whistleblower report from a small veterans’ nonprofit he led suggested he financially mismanaged the group, according to a report in the New Yorker. Hegseth has denied the claims, and his allies have pointed out that they have been made anonymously.
“As far as I can tell the New Yorker article had zero named sources,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Armed Services Committee who met with Hegseth this week. “So you know, you’ve got to take those with a grain of salt.”
Hegseth said he was happy to answer probing questions from senators, including about the allegations of his drinking, and cast his own personal story as one of redemption.
“We’ve had great conversations about who I am and what I believe and frankly who I am today because of my faith in my Lord and savior Jesus Christ and my incredible wife, Jenny, right here,” Hegseth said on Thursday, gesturing to his wife. “I’m a different man than I was years ago, and that’s a redemption story that I think a lot of Americans appreciate.”
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The Washington Post’s Paul Kane contributed to this report.