policy
President-elect Donald Trump's support for Pete Hegseth, whom he announced as his nominee for defense secretary shortly after Election Day, is wavering after intense controversy over a rape allegation and a Email from Hegseth's mother from 2018 He accused him of a pattern of abusing women.
How Hegseth survives a series of tests on Wednesday shall be crucial to his possibilities. He is anticipated to proceed his meetings with key senators, including Joni Ernst of Iowa, a combat veteran who has spoken about being sexually abused herself, and his mother is anticipated to do an interview on Fox News. He will even start defending himself on television.
Trump has made it clear to people near him that he believes Hegseth must have been more open concerning the problems he would face if confirmed, in line with two people conversant in his considering.
The combination of events could determine whether he stays because the expected candidate. Trump has been open about other people for the job, including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, whom he defeated within the Republican presidential primary and with whom he had a contentious relationship. Trump likes the story of publicly confronting someone he dominates, and he spoke about it with DeSantis on Tuesday at a service honoring three Florida sheriff's deputies who died in a automobile accident.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Trump's discussions about DeSantis.
But the number of individuals in Trump's world who dislike and distrust DeSantis — and bitterly remember the campaign he ran against the president-elect — is large. These individuals are discussing other options, including whether Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., is who Trump is was chosen as his national security advisercould slip into the job with the expectation that he can be confirmed relatively easily by the Senate. While criticism of Trump has not all the time been an obstacle for his candidates prior to now, DeSantis lobbed aggressive attacks at Trump through the primaries. They included a headline about paying money to a porn actor that formed the idea for an indictment against Trump.
“I think some of these articles are very disturbing,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-R-S.C., an in depth Trump ally, told CBS News, referring to Hegseth. “He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of these things are going to be difficult.”
Trump has spent little or no personal capital on senators attempting to push through Hegseth. And the brand new president's advisers are aware in private conversations that Republican senators try to be respectful of Trump while disapproving of a candidate who worries them.
Hegseth, 44, could possibly be the third person Trump has announced as a candidate to retire from office, after Matt Gaetz withdrew his name as attorney general and Sheriff Chad Chronister as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Hegseth has come under intense scrutiny over the past two weeks. Turns out he did a settlement agreement was concluded with a lady who accused him of rape in 2017; He had insisted that it was a consensual meeting, and Trump told his advisers on the time that he desired to keep on with his announced candidate.
But the troubling headlines that Trump hates only got worse. The New York Times reported on an email his mother wrote to him in 2018, as he was going through a bitter divorce, during which she told her son that he had “abused” quite a few women “in some way” through the years. have. Hegseth's mother recently said that she regretted sending the e-mail and had retracted the comments, which she said she made during an emotional time as he was going through a divorce – a comment she addressed in her Fox appearance is anticipated to be discussed in additional detail.
Trump has told people he’s unhappy with the story concerning the email.
Hegseth was also the topic of a scathing article within the New Yorker. who reported that he was forced out of office due to his behavior as leader of two veterans groups. NBC News reported on Tuesday that Hegseth's drinking frightened his colleagues at Fox News.
It was unclear how comprehensive the Trump transition team's review of Hegseth's past was.
Now the Trump team shall be watching closely how Hegseth and his mother conduct themselves in interviews, knowing they shall be crucial to the brand new president in terms of deciding whether to follow the previous Fox News star. presenter and constant to combat veterans whose qualifications to steer the Pentagon are in query.
People near Hegseth consider that he must perform well if he wants to avoid wasting himself. The Trump team is especially concerned about Republican senators breaking with Hegseth, particularly Ernst.
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