The designated US Secretary of Defense Hegseth defends himself against serious allegations. He will “fight like hell” for confirmation in the Senate. Another of Trump's candidates announced his resignation.
The controversial preferred candidate of US President-elect Donald Trump for the office of Defense Secretary is increasingly in trouble in the face of serious allegations. Former television host Pete Hegseth is going on the offensive in the face of a possible lack of votes for his confirmation in the Senate. The 44-year-old gave interviews, spoke to senators in the US Congress in Washington – and even his mother spoke on television. Whether that will be enough to make up for the apparent lack of support within his own party remains uncertain.
Since Hegseth's nomination for the important ministerial post, new allegations against him have gradually become known: including alleged sexual assaults against women, racist statements and alcohol abuse. The ex-soldier rejects the allegations: “The press is peddling one anonymous story after another to slander and put me down,” he wrote in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.
Mother Hegseth defends son
A few days ago, an email from his mother came to light in which she accused her son of treating women badly. Hegseth's mother does not deny writing the message several years ago. However, she says she sent an apology email to her son shortly afterwards.
At the right-wing conservative channel Fox News, where Hegseth worked as a presenter, his mother Penelope now defended him: “Pete is a new person,” she emphasized. Your son does not abuse women. Hegseth himself announced in an interview: “We will fight like hell. Why should we give in?”
Anyone who wants to become a minister must be confirmed in the Senate. Trump initially threatened to circumvent this regulation with a constitutional twist, but recently stopped doing so publicly. In the Senate, there are reservations about Hegseth even among the chamber's Republican members. Because of the narrow majority of Republicans in the Senate, Hegseth can only allow three dissents.
Not a “drop of alcohol” as such Minister of Defense
However, significantly more than three Republican senators have recently expressed their discomfort with the personnel. This is also why Hegseth publicly vowed that he would no longer drink as Pentagon chief: “This is the greatest mission of my life. I will not have a drop of alcohol on my lips.” Hegseth also said a meeting with incoming Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune went “great.” He did not comment himself.
Many senators are holding back from making public statements for fear of alienating Trump. It is all the more remarkable that the resistance against Hegseth is so great that he now has to pull out all the stops in order to have any chance of getting a vote in the Senate. The two rather moderate Republican senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins do not want to meet Hegseth until next week – they are considered possible dissenters. Collins demanded that Hegseth undergo an FBI check.
Names for Hegseth replacements are already circulating
There were doubts about the Fox News presenter's qualifications for the powerful post at the head of the Defense Department and the most powerful military force in the world from the start. Hegseth was himself a soldier and had been involved in military operations abroad in the past, but never in high-ranking military leadership positions. He also has no political experience or expertise in national security.
There is now speculation as to who could replace Hegseth if he fails in the Senate or if Trump withdraws his nomination. The name of his former domestic political adversary Ron DeSantis comes up, who once wanted to move into the White House himself. Also in discussion are Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa, who herself served in the US military, and Senator Bill Hagerty from Tennessee.
Another Trump candidate declares withdrawal
On Tuesday, Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff, announced his retirement as possible head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The nomination for the office was “the honor of his life,” Chronister wrote in an article on
Trump, on the other hand, said it was he who overturned the nomination. “It wasn't him who withdrew, it was me who withdrew because I didn't like what he said to my pastors and other followers,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. During the Corona pandemic, Chronister had a pastor arrested for holding church services with hundreds of people and thus violating Corona rules.
A few weeks ago, Trump had to replace one of the candidates for his desired cabinet: Republican Matt Gaetz, who was controversial within his own ranks because of his radical views and agitation in Congress, and whom Trump had planned to be Minister of Justice, withdrew in the face of concentrated criticism and public pressure back.