Donald Trump’s aides working on Pete Hegseth’s nomination for defense secretary have told the Trump transition team they haven’t yet counted three Republican senators as being categorically opposed to his confirmation, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The president-elect’s pick to lead the Pentagon returned to Capitol Hill to meet with senators in an effort to shore up faltering support over allegations that he committed sexual assault, drank to excess, sexually pursued female subordinates and was ousted from two non-profits.
But Hegseth’s nomination team, which has met with senators themselves, have suggested to Trump’s orbit that he may ultimately prevail given that they have not hit the critical threshold of three “no” votes despite the slew of torrid headlines that have clouded the selection.
And while Trump himself has not expended any real political capital by calling holdouts on Hegseth’s behalf, the Trump aides working on his nomination have, both with senators and inside Trumpworld to ensure he has the president-elect’s backing.
Hegseth’s team, which includes aides who are close to the vice-president-elect JD Vance and Trump’s eldest son Don Jr, represent a particularly powerful group that has the ability to reach Republican senators and the Trump inner circle.
The trickiest hurdle for Hegseth, the people said, appears for now at least to be convincing Republican senator Joni Ernst to back his nomination or ensuring her resistance does not embolden her close colleagues in the Senate to vote against him.
Ernst, an Iowa Republican and combat veteran who has spoken about being sexually assaulted herself, had a closed-door meeting with Hegseth on Wednesday but did not offer her endorsement when she emerged, as well as in an interview on Fox News the following morning.
“For a number of our senators, they want to make sure that any allegations are cleared, and that’s why we have to have a very thorough vetting process,” Ernst told Fox News, agreeing with the host Bill Hemmer that she had not reached a “yes” on Hegseth.
The continued resistance from Ernst sparked complaints from Trump’s team at Mar-a-Lago, where the transition operation is headquartered, that Ernst was content to sink Hegseth’s nomination because she was interested in the job herself.
Ernst had briefly been in the running for the defense secretary position until she was passed over when Trump instead gravitated to Hegseth, partly because of what he regarded as his telegenic qualities and conversations with him on the campaign trail.
But Ernst has spoken to Trump repeatedly in recent weeks and questioned his choice for Hegseth, the people said, giving rise to accusations that she was trying to position herself for the job.
A spokesperson for Ernst said in a statement that she has not sought to be the defense secretary pick: “She is not seeking the position, full stop.”
Still, that has not quelled the backlash against her inside Trumpworld with aides foreshadowing a war his other sherpa teams if she in effect forced Hegseth to withdraw his nomination for her own personal self-interest, the people said.
Trump has told people close to him that Michael Waltz, the former Florida congressman he chose as his national security adviser, would face an easier path to Senate confirmation for defense secretary, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.
But Trump has also said he wants to keep Waltz in the West Wing and his top replacement pick would be Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and his 2024 Republican primary rival.
In Washington, Hegseth launched a public media campaign to bolster support for his nomination. He vowed to continue with his bid as he met with more Republican senators in Congress and said in a high-profile interview that Trump told him that he had his back.
Speaking to Megyn Kelly on Sirius XM, Hegseth dismissed the sexual misconduct and drinking allegations as fiction, comparing them with the similar negative headlines that dogged Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearings for the US supreme court.
“It is the classic art of the smear,” Hegseth said. “Take whatever tiny kernels of truth – and there are tiny, tiny ones in there – and blow them up into a masquerade of a narrative about somebody that I am definitely not.”
He later told Kelly that if he ultimately became defense secretary, he would stop drinking altogether, likening it to when he followed the military directive prohibiting alcohol consumption on deployment.
Hegseth’s team once planned to do Bret Baier’s show on Fox News but ultimately decided on an appearance on Kelly’s show, betting that speaking with a female journalist who had herself spoken out against sexual harassment in a long-form interview would be more beneficial, a person familiar with the matter said.
The Hegseth team also thought doubling down on Fox News was overkill, the person said, after his mother earlier appeared on the Fox and Friends morning show to quell concerns about a 2018 email she sent her son that accused him of a pattern of abuse towards women.
Penelope Hegseth said she regretted sending the email, in which she said her son “belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around”, and urged senators to consider his nomination. “He’s redeemed, forgiven, changed,” she said.
