WASHINGTON— President-elect Donald Trump on Friday offered a public show of support for Pete Hegseth, his embattled choice to lead the Defense Department, whose confirmation by the Senate is in doubt as he faces questions over allegations of excessive drinking, sexual assault and his views on women in combat.
Hegseth, a former Fox News Host, Army National Guard major and combat veteran, spent much of the week on Capitol Hill trying to salvage his Cabinet nomination and privately reassure Republican senators that he is fit to lead Trump’s Pentagon.
“Pete Hegseth is doing very well,” Trump posted on his social media site. “He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense.” The president added, “Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!”
Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview recorded Friday that he believes Hegseth will be confirmed and that he still has confidence in him.
“Pete is doing well now,” the president-elect said in an excerpt of the interview set to air Sunday. “I mean, people were a little bit concerned. He’s a young guy with a tremendous track record.”
He said senators have called him to tell him that Hegseth is fantastic. Trump also cast doubt on reports of alcohol misuse by Hegseth, saying he has spoken to people who know him well and has been assured Hegseth doesn’t have a drinking problem.
The pitched nomination battle over Hegseth is emerging not only as a debate about the best person to lead the Pentagon, but also at a key moment for a “Make America Great Again” movement that appears to be relishing a public fight over its hard-line push for a more masculine military and an end to the “woke-ism” of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Trump’s allies are forcefully rallying around the embattled Hegseth — the Heritage Foundation’s political arm is promising to spend $1 million to shore up his nomination — as he vows to stay in the fight, as long as the president-elect wants him to.
“We’re not abandoning this nomination,” Vice-President-elect JD Vance said as he toured post-hurricane North Carolina.
“Pete Hegseth is going to get his hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, not a sham hearing before the American media,” Vance said. He said he had spoken with GOP senators and he believes Hegseth will be confirmed. “We are completely behind him.”
The effort has become a test of Trump’s clout and of how far loyalty for the president-elect goes with Republican senators who have concerns about his nominees. Two of Trump’s other choices have stepped aside as they faced intense scrutiny: former congressman Matt Gaetz, his first choice for attorney general, and Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff who was Trump’s first choice to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The president’s son Donald Trump Jr. also made a show of support for Hegseth on Friday, part of a full-court MAGA press.
“If you’re a GOP Senator who voted for Lloyd Austin, but criticize @PeteHegseth, then maybe you’re in the wrong political party!” he wrote on X. referring to President Joe Biden’s defense secretary.
Thanking the president-elect for the support, Hegseth posted on social media, “Like you, we will never back down.”
Hegseth has promised not to drink on the job and told lawmakers he never engaged in sexual misconduct, even as his professional views on female troops have also come under intensifying scrutiny. He said as recently as last month that women “straight up” should not serve in combat.
He picked up one important endorsement from Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, whose support was seen as a potentially powerful counterweight to the cooler reception Hegseth had received from Sen. Joni Ernst, herself a former Army National Guard lieutenant colonel.
“Huge. Thanks to Katie for her leadership,” Vance posted on social media.
Ernst, who is also a sexual assault survivor, stopped short of an endorsement after her meeting with Hegseth this week. On Friday, Ernst posted on X that she and Hegseth would continue having “constructive conversations” as the process moves forward. She said she would meet with him again next week.
