Republicans will take a closer look at Trump’s Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth

Republican senators this week will take a closer look at Donald Trump’s unconventional pick to run the Department of Defense, setting up another test of how much deference the senators are willing to show the president-elect.

Since being tapped to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host who has never run a large government agency, has faced allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking and mismanagement. He denies the charges and is meeting with Senate Republicans to build support for his confirmation.

“We absolutely cannot have a Secretary of Defense that gets drunk on a regular basis … I got to know that he’s got that problem licked,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), who plans to meet with Hegseth soon. “I’ve seen public statements to that effect and if he reassures me that’s the case then I’m satisfied with it.”

Hegseth’s meetings on Capitol Hill come after Trump’s first pick for attorney general, former GOP rep. Matt Gaetz (Florida), withdrew after it was clear he did not have sufficient support from Senate Republicans because of allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl.

One Senate Republican, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said that Hegseth would have a “hard time” getting confirmed and described some members as “wild cards.”

“These are controversial appointments,” the senator said, adding that Hegseth ranked among the toughest Trump nominees to make it through the Senate.

Publicly, however, many Republican senators are not disclosing how they’ll end up voting on Hegseth, even as some Senate aides privately questioned whether he’d make it through the confirmation process.

“I know there’s a lot of information out there, I want the best for the president,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Monday. “He deserves a nominee that will work for him and will do the absolute best that our country needs.”

Ernst is one senator who could be a litmus test for Hegseth’s ability to get confirmed.

A spokesperson for Ernst, a military veteran and survivor of sexual assault, said she looked forward to meeting with Hegseth.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, she and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) led a years-long effort on one of the most significant changes to the armed services in years - strengthening accountability for abusers of sexual assault in the military. The new changes remove investigation and prosecution of abusers from the chain of command to an independent prosecutor which aims to increase reporting and accountability of sexual crimes.

Some Republicans and Democrats have privately suggested that one serious effect of Hegseth’s confirmation would create a culture of permissibility of abusive or misogynistic behavior in the military given the allegations against Hegseth and his open skepticism of women serving in combat positions.

[What women veterans think of Pete Hegseth’s views about combat roles]

Shortly after Trump tapped Hegseth, The Washington Post and other outlets reported that the police investigated an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017 in Monterey, California. Hegseth’s lawyer said the encounter was consensual and authorities declined to bring charges in the case. He later paid the woman as part of a nondisclosure agreement.

The New Yorker also recently reported that former employees of Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit that Hegseth ran, filed a whistleblower report that said he was frequently intoxicated while working. The New Yorker also reported that another nonprofit he ran, Veterans for Freedom, “ran up enormous debt” and “was unable to pay its creditors.” Hegseth’s lawyer dismissed the New Yorker story and described the claims as “outlandish.”

Senate Republicans appear more willing to let the process play out with Hegseth than they were with Gaetz, according to a Senate GOP aide. But some acknowledged on Tuesday that Hegseth would need to address the misconduct allegations.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), a Trump ally, told CBS News that some of the news reports about Hegseth were “very disturbing” and would be “difficult.”

“My presumption is I vote for nominees unless persuaded otherwise, the same will be for Pete,” Graham later told The Post. When asked about the allegations facing Hegseth, Graham declined to talk about them. “He needs to talk about it … He needs to tell his side of the story.”

Hegseth is meeting with senators this week to make the case for his confirmation. GOP Sens. Tommy Tuberville (Alabama), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Mike Lee (Utah), Ted Cruz (Texas) and Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) are among the members Hegseth has met with, according to his X account. He planned to meet with Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) and Ted Budd (R-North Carolina) on Tuesday, according to their offices.

Hegseth’s wife has joined him in many of the meetings, a move that some on Capitol Hill say is an attempt to make it more difficult for senators to ask him directly about sexual assault allegations.

Earlier in the day, Trump called into a Senate GOP meeting and congratulated the newly elected senators. Trump also congratulated incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and said they shared the same agenda. He did not mention his cabinet nominees, according to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia).

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), who met with Hegseth on Monday, said he was not worried about the allegations sinking his nomination. Asked if he spoke to Hegseth about the mounting pile of issues he faces, Johnson simply said the two “focused on what he (will do) on the job, and that’s about rebuilding the U.S. military force.”

Tuberville on Tuesday posted an article on X supporting Hegseth and asking his GOP colleagues to do the same.

“Pete Hegseth is a patriot,” Tuberville wrote. “He was born to serve our country in this position. I trust he will surround himself with the right personnel to fully deliver on what the American people sent President Trump back to the White House to accomplish. With Secretary Pete Hegseth at the helm, our military will be strong again.”

While Republicans will have a 53-seat majority in January, some senators warned that there is little room for error and that members need to be upfront with nominees about their chances of confirmation.

“These are people, they’re brothers, they’re fathers, they’re husbands, they’re human beings you need to treat them at a human level you need to be realistic about what is and is not possible with respect to the merits of their particular confirmation,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina). “I think you have to just work through the realities of what challenges you could have in the confirmation process. We’ve got thin margins.”