WASHINGTON — An embattled Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Defense Department, trudged through meetings and appearances on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as he fought to assuage senators’ concerns about his past behavior and push back on the steady flow of negative press that has followed him in recent days.
In his third visit to the Hill in as many days, Hegseth met with top Republicans including Armed Services ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who is also its incoming chairman; committee members Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.; incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.; and the conservative House Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus in the House.
Hegseth’s meetings were punctuated by flurries of activity in the hallways of the Capitol, as he traversed the building flanked by an entourage of staff, advisers and security personnel who held throngs of reporters at bay while they shouted questions at him.
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The full-court press by Hegseth and his team comes as a steady drip of negative press — including allegations of excessive drinking, sexual misconduct and mismanagement of funds at two veterans organizations, of which he was the head — threatens to derail his confirmation.
In a high-profile interview with Megyn Kelly, who like Hegseth is a former Fox News host, Hegseth said he was being “smeared” by the media, and that he had spoken with Trump on Wednesday morning and had his full support.
Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth, sat for a televised interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” in part to refute a New York Times story that recounted an email she sent her son in 2018 in which she called him “an abuser of women.” She said she retracted the email with an apology two hours after sending it, and called her son “a changed man.”
Republican senators have not openly opposed Hegseth — and many support him — but some have voiced concerns over the allegations. And Hegseth can afford to lose precious few votes given Republican’s 53 Senate seats next year, assuming all Democrats oppose him.
Following their meeting, Ernst said in a statement that she and Hegseth had a “frank and thorough” conversation.
Ernst has herself been floated as a possible contender for the Defense secretary job amid speculation that Trump is considering replacing Hegseth, and is widely seen as an easy pick who would coast through the confirmation process, given her reputation in the chamber and deep national security experience.
Other possible replacements include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Elbridge Colby, who served as deputy assistant secretary of Defense for strategy and force development during the first Trump administration.
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Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a close ally of Hegseth, said in an interview that at some point Hegseth would have to consider his family and how much they are going through.
“He can keep moving forward at one point, or he can pull out. But it’s, I think, that at some point, becomes a family question,” Mullin said.
Hegseth himself continued his resolute stance, telling reporters on the Hill that he was focused on “putting the warfighters first.”
“That’s what Donald Trump asked me to do,” he continued, saying Trump told him: “Your job is to bring a warfighting ethos to the Pentagon. Your job is to make sure that it’s lethality, lethality, lethality.”
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