Pete Hegseth spent this week trying to court senators (and others) as he fought to remain Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary. He met with cautious and understanding lawmakers, his lawyer attempted to dismiss allegations of misconduct, and even his mother went on Fox to defend her son.
But his meetings with lawmakers Thursday were overshadowed in many ways by Sen. Joni Ernst, the Iowa Republican, who still expresses doubts about Hegseth’s nomination and broader questions about his suitability to lead the nation’s military.
Ernst has emerged as one of the key Republicans who could help sink his impending nomination. While Hegseth was in the first meeting of the day on Thursday, a Fox reporter told Ernst that it seemed like she wasn’t completely on board with supporting Hegseth.
“I think you’re right,” she replied.
Ernst met with Hegseth on Wednesday in his Senate office. The next day, she said she had no plans to meet him for the rest of the week. Instead, Hegseth met Thursday with some of the remaining Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who are mostly Trump allies and appeared to support his Cabinet picks: Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) , Mike Rounds (R-Ala.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark), Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Hegseth also met with Sen.-elect Jim Banks (R-Ind.).
“I really see a path forward for him to be successful in being accepted by the Senate for this position, but he has more work to do,” Rounds said after his meeting with Hegseth. Rounds previously expressed concern about former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first choice for attorney general, before he retired.
But without Ernst, who serves on the Armed Services Committee and is a veteran and sexual assault survivor, along with other skeptical Republicans like Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, Hegseth’s confirmation appears to be in jeopardy.
The veteran and former Fox News personality left the Capitol telling reporters that he only answers to Trump, God, his family and the 100 senators who voted for his confirmation, not the media.
And he reaffirmed that he is not retiring: “As long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I will be right here in this fight,” he told reporters Thursday afternoon.
Hegseth defended himself against a series of accusations. In 2017, he was investigated for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman, but was never formally charged. He later paid the woman an undisclosed sum to keep quiet about the incident, which he claimed was consensual. A recent article in The New Yorker reported that he resigned from two nonprofit organizations “in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual misconduct and personal misconduct.”
AND NBC News reported that his colleagues at Fox News were concerned that he had a drinking problem.
Trump’s transition team had previously denied that Hegseth had a drinking problem, but he also said he wouldn’t drink alcohol if confirmed.
On Thursday, Hegseth said he had changed, adding that God, his family and his wife, who accompanied him to the Senate on Thursday, helped him get back on track.
“I’m a different man than I was years ago, and that’s a redemption story that I think a lot of Americans appreciate, and I know from fellow veterans I’ve spent time with that they resonate with that, too,” Hegseth. he said in response to the accusations. “You fight, you do hard things in hard places on behalf of your country, and sometimes it changes you a little bit.”