Donald Trump’s allies are scrambling to save Pete Hegseth after the president-elect’s pick to lead the Pentagon struggled to win over skeptical Republicans in a flurry of meetings on Capitol Hill this week.
Trump is still standing by his choice, telling Hegseth he wants to see him fight for votes in the Senate, sources close to both told CNN, though they also acknowledged that the president-elect could withdraw his support at any time.
Trump and those around him still see a pathway for Hegseth to be confirmed, the sources said, though they noted the Senate math can change quickly — and some of Trump’s allies are ramping up public pressure on senators who have so far declined to commit to Hegseth.
The former Fox News host’s confirmation is in jeopardy amid a series of allegations related to drinking and sexual misconduct that have emerged since he was chosen for the role. While no Republican senators have publicly said they will not back Hegseth, many have said they have concerns that they need addressed before they can get behind him.
For Trump — who’s already lost one of his Cabinet picks due to Senate opposition – Hegseth’s fate is poised to become a key early test of his relationship with Senate Republicans. Some of Trump’s allies believe the president-elect cannot give into the pressure from senators over Hegseth, arguing that allowing them to tank another key pick would give lawmakers too much power at a critical time for him.
“If he drops Pete because of pressure from establishment Republican senators, all it will do is have the effect of the Senate essentially controlling Trump and not the other way around,” one source familiar with transition talks told CNN.
Trump’s continued backing – as of now – is part of the reason Hegseth has appeared more bullish this week while he’s held critical meetings with Republican senators who will ultimately decide his destiny.
“I spoke to Trump this morning just a few minutes ago. He supports us fully,” Hegseth told CNN Thursday when he arrived on Capitol Hill.
“I’m a different man than I was,” Hegseth said after his meetings wrapped Thursday in response to questions about allegations of alcohol abuse. And on Wednesday, he took to conservative media and X to blast the accusations against him.
Sources familiar with the matter argued that the situation with Hegseth is not the same as what unfolded with Trump’s attorney general pick, Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his name last month after Trump told him he did not have the votes to get confirmed.
“This is very different than the situation with Matt Gaetz. With Gaetz, you had multiple members who were legitimate hard no’s, whereas with Pete, I don’t think there’s a single actual hard no on the GOP side of the Senate right now,” one Trump world adviser told CNN.
Unlike with Gaetz, Trump has not been making a flurry of phone calls directly to senators, sources said. Trump has so far allowed his transition team to handle the backchanneling as it relates to Hegseth rather than personally involving himself, two sources familiar with the discussions said.
However, Vice President-elect JD Vance, a supporter of Hegseth and a current Ohio senator, has been talking to his colleagues as Hegseth has been in and out of meetings on Capitol Hill.
Speculation swirls over potential Hegseth replacements
Trump’s allies on and off Capitol Hill have pushed Republican senators to get in line for Hegseth, noting that President Joe Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, received 93 votes.
“If you’re a GOP Senator who voted for Lloyd Austin, but criticize @PeteHegseth, then maybe you’re in the wrong political party!” Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., wrote on X.
One Trump adviser said that the president-elect’s support for Hegseth could wane if more allegations surface. Trump’s transition team was blindsided by a 2017 sexual assault allegation against Hegseth – and then again after a related police report surfaced. Hegseth has denied the allegation, claiming the encounter was consensual, and no charges were filed.
The avalanche of media reports on Hegseth’s alleged past transgressions has caused some around Trump to sour on the pick. Transition team members have expressed frustration at what they said was Hegseth’s lack of transparency and honesty about information that could be used against him, despite having been asked to disclose any potential headwinds on multiple occasions.
At the same time, many of Trump’s advisers and close allies were annoyed over reports this week that the president-elect was mulling possible replacements, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, whose vote could be among the most crucial to Hegseth’s chances. Ernst, a combat veteran who’s taken on sexual assault in the military, has not said whether she’ll support Hegseth.
The people close to Trump have since lobbied him directly on Hegseth, as well as attempted to quash any interest he might have had in other candidates, including reminding Trump of negative things DeSantis in particular said about him earlier this year when the two were in a heated primary.
Sources familiar with the discussions said there is a concern among Hegseth allies that Ernst and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are working to sink Hegseth so that Ernst could be considered as a defense secretary candidate instead. CNN has previously reported Ernst’s name was floated as a replacement for Hegseth.
An Ernst spokesman called the speculation around her motives “absolutely not true. Ernst is not seeking the position, full stop.”
Graham said the claims were “complete crap.”
Some close to Hegseth believe that if he can survive over the next week, he will be Trump’s nominee, though he still will have to get through his confirmation hearing early next year.
Meetings with key GOP senators
Trump’s team has been watching Hegseth’s meetings with senators very closely to gauge where they stand — with a particular focus on female senators like Ernst. Hegseth has repeatedly denied the allegations that have imperiled his confirmation and his attorney Timothy Parlatore argued to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday that they were “anonymous.”
On Wednesday, Hegseth’s mother made a plea to these female senators during an interview with Fox News.
“I am here to tell the truth, to tell the truth to the American people, and tell the truth to the senators on the Hill, especially our female senators. I really hope that you will not listen to the media, and that you will listen to Pete,” said Penelope Hegseth, who sent an email to her son in 2018 that sharply criticized his treatment of women, The New York Times reported last week. (She told the Times that she had immediately apologized to her son and that her own characterization in the email “has never been true.”)
Pete Hegseth met with Ernst on Wednesday, but the senator declined to throw her support behind him. The Iowa Republican confirmed during an interview on Fox News Thursday that she was not yet ready to back him.
“It doesn’t sound in your answer that you got to a yes?” host Bill Hemmer asked.
“I think you are right,” Ernst responded. “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.”
Another Republican on the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, said after his meeting with Hegseth Thursday that he still sees a path for him, but is not ready to commit to backing him – yet.
“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,” Rounds said. “I think he’s capable of doing that and I think the open hearings will help, so that he can respond publicly to the allegations that have been made – and, as near as I can tell, the vast majority of them anonymously.”
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are considering how hard they should press to dig up more information about Hegseth while they still control the chamber. Democrats on the Armed Services Committee are weighing whether to subpoena Concerned Veterans for America, where Hegseth was president from 2013 to 2016, for a whistleblower report from former employees, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
The report, described in The New Yorker, alleged Hegseth was repeatedly intoxicated at work events and gatherings with staff. It also alleges that he sexually pursued female staffers, and that the organization ignored another staffer’s alleged sexual misconduct, according to the magazine. Hegseth has denied the allegations, with his lawyer calling them “outlandish claims” from a “disgruntled former associate.”
Democrats have just weeks before the committee will fall into GOP control, when they would lose that subpoena power. As CNN reported earlier this week, incoming Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, has said he believes he’ll eventually see the report.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who sits on the committee, asked the leaders of the panel to demand that two veterans groups that Hegseth led “preserve and produce” records related to him — including credit card transactions.
“It’s very interesting what the press likes to dub a whistleblower report, which some others might clarify as an email from a disgruntled employee, one might say,” Hegseth told CNN’s Manu Raju on Thursday when asked if he’d support the release of the report.
The focus on Hegseth on Capitol Hill this week has taken some of the scrutiny off of Trump’s other Cabinet picks. For many of them, Hegseth has served as “heat shield” while they take meetings on the Hill, a source close to the transition said.
CNN’s Danya Gainor, Kit Maher, Andrew Millman, Manu Raju, Paula Reid, Morgan Rimmer and Haley Talbot contributed to this report.
