Senate Republicans are more receptive to defense secretary nominee Hegseth despite Gaetz’s exit

Even as President-elect Donald Trump’s first choice for attorney general imploded Thursday amid skepticism that he could overcome allegations of sexual misconduct to win Senate confirmation, Senate Republicans signaled they remained open to confirming another Cabinet pick who also faces accusations of sexual misconduct.

Senators stressed that police had investigated a 2017 allegation that Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary, had drugged and sexually assaulted a woman at a California political conference and declined to press charges. Hegseth, who paid his accuser an undisclosed sum as part of a nondisclosure agreement, has denied the woman’s allegations.

“We live in an age that everybody’s past is exposed, regardless of what their circumstances are, and people draw an opinion before they have time to actually know the whole truth,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) told reporters Thursday.

“The good thing is, there’s actually a full report, and you guys can read it for yourself,” he said, referring to the police report. “I don’t think there’s any way in the world you can say that this is a sexual assault.”

The reaction was a stark departure to the mounting opposition to former congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), who withdrew from consideration as attorney general on Thursday after revelations that two women testified before the House Ethics Committee that Gaetz paid them for sex. Trump announced later Thursday that he was tapping former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi to run the Justice Department instead.

Despite the renewed spotlight on Hegseth, Senate Republicans - who will be in the majority next year and need 50 votes to confirm a Cabinet appointee - did not seem inclined to oppose his selection without hearing more.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), who is expected to chair the Senate Armed Services Committee, which would hold Hegseth’s confirmation hearings, also cited the absence of charges after the police investigation as a reason things might play out differently for the Pentagon pick.

“I’m sure members will be advised, also, by the fact that no charges were brought, and that the allegations are in dispute,” Wicker said.

Other Republican senators suggested that Hegseth - unlike Gaetz - would be a natural fit to implement Trump’s national security vision, along with Trump’s selection of Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Florida) as national security adviser and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) as secretary of state.

“I think the combination of [Hegseth] and Mike Waltz and Marco Rubio is strong,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said.

Sullivan, a Marine Corps veteran who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said he has personally witnessed the “woke stuff” in the U.S. military and praised Hegseth for seeming like a guy who is going to bring the “focus back on lethality, winning wars.”

The assault allegations, he said, “are going to have to be addressed. But I don’t think he should be tried in the press on those. … What I’ve been focused on is the policies that I’m quite confident he will focus on and implement, and in a big contrast to the current administration, which has not focused on lethality.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), one of Trump’s steadfast supporters on the Hill, responded angrily Thursday when The Washington Post asked him whether the rape allegations against Hegseth could hinder his confirmation.

“Nobody asked me about the allegation of rape by President Biden. Y’all need to knock it off,” he said, referring to a 2019 claim, when Biden was running for president, levied by a former Biden Senate staffer. The staffer, Tara Reade, said Biden had pinned her against a wall in 1993, reached up her skirt and touched her. Biden emphatically denied the allegation.

“There’s a process,” Graham continued, as he speed-walked away from reporters. “The process is he will get nominated. He will have a hearing. He will be asked to address these allegations, and I’ll decide what to do.”

Hegseth, who visited Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with Republican senators for the first time since his nomination, addressed reporters briefly outside the office of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s soon-to-be vice president.

“It’s an incredible opportunity that I do not take lightly,” Hegseth said, after his meetings with Wicker and Mullin, as well as Senate Republicans John Barrasso (Wyoming) - soon to be the chamber’s GOP whip - Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) and Bill Hagerty (Tennessee). “We take very seriously the advice and consent role the U.S. Senate has. We look forward to engaging in that process. We take absolutely nothing for granted.”

Asked about the allegation that Hegseth raped a woman after a GOP women’s convention in Monterey, California, Hegseth said: “It’s very simple. The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared.”

The Monterey Police Department investigated the allegations but declined to file charges. Police filed a report after an emergency room nurse contacted police and told them a woman told her she was possibly drugged and sexually assaulted by Hegseth. Hegseth has called the encounter consensual.

Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, has said the encounter between Hegseth and his accuser was consensual, and that the woman fabricated the assault “to keep her marriage intact.”

Some Trump transition officials, however, worried Thursday that Gaetz’s departure could spell more intense scrutiny for Hegseth. Republicans might feel comfortable contesting one of Trump’s Cabinet picks, but might hesitate to go further out of fear that such dissent could risk a Trump-backed Republican primary challenger, said a person familiar with the transition team’s thinking. With Gaetz, the most unpalatable selection, out by his own choosing, the others are now more exposed, the person said.

The allegations against Hegseth make his nomination especially vulnerable, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations of the transition team.

But so far, the reactions to Hegseth are more favorable than those to Gaetz, who was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly paying for sex with a minor, among other actions. The Justice Department earlier investigated Gaetz for alleged sex trafficking, but the department closed the inquiry without filing charges. Gaetz has denied the accusations.

Senate Republicans displayed little love lost for Gaetz after just eight days of scrutiny. Gaetz’s fate may also have been influenced by the fact that he has made a host of enemies during his eight years in Congress, and few friends.

Another senator Gaetz had previously been critical of, James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), summed up the news of Gaetz’s speedy withdrawal from consideration: “We all said we were going to let the process to play out. It’s played out faster than we thought.”

Hegseth has so far had to contend with no such personal drama on Capitol Hill. Many Senate Republicans said they were surprised by his nomination and confessed to having little familiarity with his background, which Democrats were quick to note did not include any role managing a government agency or office. As defense secretary, Hegseth would oversee a global workforce of 3 million military and civilian personnel and an annual budget of more than $800 billion.

In addition, Gaetz’s confirmation process had also intensified pressure on the Ethics Committee. Democrats, as well as some Republicans, had called on the secretive committee to release the report even after Gaetz announced he would resign from Congress. Hegseth, on the other hand, faces no such complication.

Some Senate Republicans also predicted privately that Hegseth might fare well, too, in interviews and confirmation hearings because of his extensive TV experience, and suggested that Republicans are likely to be impressed by his military service and medals. A few also praised Hegseth’s public calls to expunge the military of its “woke” generals and officers.

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Liz Goodwin contributed to this report.