Pete Hegseth insisted Wednesday morning that he will not stop being considered to be the next Secretary of Defense.
The president-elect is considering replacing Hegseth with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to a report Wednesday morning.
But Hegseth, 44, called the report another “smear,” after another New Yorker report this week alleged that the Army National Guard veteran would get drunk at work events to the point of needing to be carried out. .
Also a veteran, DeSantis was one of two remaining candidates in the primary to replace Trump on the 2024 Republican ticket. But now he could be considered to join the next administration.
A spokesperson for the Governor did not immediately respond to a request from DailyMail.com to comment on the latest reports and whether DeSantis would consider leaving his position as Pentagon leader.
“I’m doing this for the fighters, not the warmongers,” Hegseth said in a post to X on Wednesday after the report emerged.
‘The left fears disruptors and agents of change. They are afraid of Donald Trump… and me,” he continued. ‘So they smear with false, anonymous sources and nonsense stories. They don’t want the truth.
“Our warriors never back down, and neither will I.”
Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer Rauchet walk hand in hand into the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill to meet with senators on Tuesday, December 3.
He included a 2005 image of himself with three other members of the Army National Guard holding rifles and dressed in uniform and bulletproof vests.
Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told Fox host Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday morning that claims that Hegseth will be replaced are just noise.
“Until we hear it from President Trump, then it’s all talk,” he told Fox Business when asked if the president-elect is considering going with DeSantis.
Since Hegseth, 44, came into the spotlight when he was nominated two weeks ago, he has been accused of sexual assault and becoming too intoxicated while at work to the point of being forced to leave a leadership position at a group of veterans.
And a 2018 email emerged where former Fox News host Penelope Hegseth’s mother called him ‘a woman abuser’ when he was divorcing his second wife, Samatha, to be with Jennifer Rauchet.
He now claims that he immediately withdrew the accusation and regretted making it.
The letter, addressed on April 30, 2018, was leaked to the New York Times.
She wrote: “I have tried to remain silent about your character and behavior, but after hearing how you made Samantha feel today, I cannot remain silent.” And as a woman and mother, I feel I must speak out.
“You are a woman abuser – that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man who belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps with other women and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and you have been for years) and, like your mother, it hurts and embarrasses me to say that, but it’s the sad, sad truth.’
When contacted by the NYT for comment, Penelope, an executive business consultant, told a different story and retracted what she had written years earlier.
‘It isn’t true. It has never been true. I know my son. He is a good father, husband.
He called the Times “disgusting” for publishing the email and claimed it was written “in anger, in emotion” at the time Hegseth and Samantha were divorcing.
Hegseth was harassed by members of the press when he met with senators at the Capitol on Monday and Tuesday and was harassed with questions about reports that he drank too much on the job.
Hegseth’s former colleagues also come to his defense after a NBC News Report claims that 10 current and former Fox News employees said they were concerned about his drinking and could smell alcohol on him “as recently as last month.”
While Fox staff remained anonymous in the NBC report, many others went on record to defend Hegseth this week.
‘Bullfighting***. 100 percent bulls***. Actually…horses***,” Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Will Cain reacted. ‘Your story is horses *** NBC News’.
‘Put my name on it. For the record,” he continued. ‘It will be the only source of the record. Signed: The guy who sat next to him for 8 hours every week for five years starting at 6 in the morning.
Former Fox News host Dan Bongino also described the allegations as “HOTS***.”
And Fox contributor Nicole Saphier wrote: “I have routinely sat on the couch with Pete Hegseth for 8 years. Not once did I suspect that I had consumed anything more than an egg sandwich and coffee before going on air.
“These hit pieces are getting ridiculous,” wrote contributor Joey Jones, who stated that he is “disgusted by the smell of alcohol on someone’s breath” and that he “has never seen Pete drink like that, and has never smelled alcohol on your encouragement at work.” .’