Trump’s embattled defense pick Hegseth vows to fight on, says he won’t drink if confirmed

WASHINGTON — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled decide for protection secretary, brushed apart ideas Wednesday that he drop out and mentioned he had spoken to Trump, who he mentioned urged him to “preserve going, preserve combating.”

“I spoke to the president-elect this morning. He mentioned: ‘Maintain going, preserve combating. I’m behind you all the best way.’” Hegseth advised CBS Information within the Capitol. “Why would I again down? I’ve at all times been a fighter. I’m right here for the fighters. That is private and passionate for me.”

Hegseth, a army veteran and former Fox Information host, was shuttling between conferences with the Republican senators whose votes he’ll must be confirmed.

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His nomination seemed to be in critical jeopardy Tuesday and Wednesday after a sequence of reports reviews raised extra questions on his remedy of ladies and his historical past with alcohol. NBC Information reported Tuesday that Hegseth’s consuming involved his colleagues at Fox Information, in line with 10 present and former Fox workers. At instances, earlier than he went on air, colleagues mentioned, he smelled of alcohol or talked about being hungover.

On Wednesday, Hegseth’s mom, Penelope Hegseth, defended her son on “Fox and Mates” and addressed a 2018 e-mail she wrote amid his divorce that accused him of mistreating ladies for years. The New York Instances printed particulars of the e-mail final week.

Hegseth has denied that he mistreated ladies and rejected allegations that he sexually assaulted a girl in Monterey, California, in 2017, describing the encounter as consensual. He reached an undisclosed settlement with the girl final 12 months.

Responding to the NBC Information report about Hegseth’s consuming, a Trump transition official known as the allegations “fully unfounded and false.”

With Republicans holding a 53 to 47 majority within the Senate subsequent 12 months, every of Trump’s nominees can afford to lose solely three GOP votes if all Democrats vote no. That makes Hegseth’s path to affirmation extraordinarily treacherous: As many as six Senate Republicans usually are not snug supporting his bid to steer the Protection Division, in line with a number of GOP sources acquainted with the method, and there could also be extra.

Hegseth confirmed no indicators of calling it quits Wednesday, holding a flurry of conferences with lawmakers on either side of the Capitol and interesting in a media blitz to salvage his nomination, together with writing an op-ed in The Wall Avenue Journal titled: “I’ve Confronted Hearth Earlier than. I Gained’t Again Down.”

Within the morning, Hegseth huddled with Senate Armed Companies Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., in his committee workplace. Round midday, he met with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who was just lately elected majority chief.

‘There gained’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips’

In response to the allegations, Hegseth referred reporters to an interview he recorded for former Fox Information host Megyn Kelly’s SiriusXM present earlier within the day, by which he mentioned he doesn’t have a consuming drawback and denied that he raped the girl in Monterey.

“Completely not. Completely not,” he mentioned when he was requested whether or not he raped the girl. “I’ve been sincere about that encounter, beginning with legislation enforcement. … I could have been consuming, however I used to be cognizant of sufficient to recollect each single element.

“I’m not right here to say that my conduct was good,” he continued. “Being in a resort room with somebody that’s, you understand, not the individual you’re with will not be OK. I come clean with that.”

Hegseth mentioned he paid the girl a settlement as a result of he needed to as somebody with a excessive profile, however he expressed remorse about doing it. “I paid her as a result of I needed to, or not less than I assumed I did on the time,” he mentioned. “I used to be duly married, I used to be up for potential jobs within the administration, so my profile was larger. … She bought legal professionals that reached out to mine and mentioned, ‘If you happen to don’t come ahead and when you don’t pay cash, then finally, we’re going to out him.'”

“I did it to guard my spouse, I did it to guard my household, and I did it to guard my job, and it was a negotiation,” he mentioned.

Addressing reviews about extreme alcohol use, Hegseth mentioned, “I by no means had a consuming drawback,” saying that he has by no means been approached or advised he had an issue and that he has “by no means sought counseling” for one.

Hegseth mentioned he’s “not going to have a drink in any respect” if he’s confirmed as secretary of protection, saying he needs Trump, senators and U.S. troops to know that he might be known as 24/7 and can be “absolutely dialed in.”

“That is the most important deployment of my life, and there gained’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips whereas I’m doing it,” he mentioned.

Through the interview, he additionally rejected allegations of monetary mismanagement when he ran a veterans’ advocacy group, which have been reported by The New Yorker. Hegseth mentioned many of the allegations are more than likely being propagated by “disgruntled people who find themselves fired for trigger, who’re jealous or need somewhat little bit of retribution.”

Conferences proceed

Hegseth advised reporters on Capitol Hill that he’s centered on “what Donald Trump requested me to do” as he meets with senators.

“Your job is to convey a war-fighting ethos again to the enemy,” he continued. “Your job is to ensure that it’s lethality, lethality, lethality. All the pieces else is gone. All the pieces else that distracts from that shouldn’t be taking place. That’s the message I’m listening to from senators in that advise-and-consent course of. It’s been an exquisite course of.”

Hegseth additionally made the quick stroll throughout the Capitol to the Home aspect to satisfy with members of the Republican Examine Committee, the biggest caucus of conservatives on Capitol Hill (although Home members don’t vote on govt department nominees). He was accompanied by allies, together with Sens. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and Invoice Hagerty, R-Tenn., and former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.

Within the closed-door assembly, Hegseth reiterated to Home members he was staying within the combat and vowed to overtake the Pentagon, lawmakers mentioned as they left.

“The president gained overwhelmingly. As we all know, the president may have picked anyone of top of the range to be his secretary of protection, and he selected Pete Hegseth, his first alternative,” mentioned Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa. “So we’ve got to, I believe, honor that until there’s one thing that blatantly disqualifies. I imply, I don’t suppose that there’s.”

Later Wednesday, Hegseth was set to satisfy with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, an Iraq battle veteran and survivor of sexual assault and home violence whose title has been one among a number of floated to exchange Hegseth ought to he bow out.

NBC Information reported Wednesday morning that Trump is contemplating changing Hegseth amid the opposition to his nomination. Others whom Trump may decide to steer the Pentagon, sources acquainted with the decision-making mentioned, are Ernst; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a onetime major rival who later endorsed Trump; Hagerty, Trump’s former ambassador to Japan; and Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., Trump’s present decide for nationwide safety adviser.

Trump has already seen one high-profile Cupboard decide drop out. Earlier than the Thanksgiving break, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, one other Florida Republican, dropped his bid to turn out to be Trump’s legal professional common after he bumped into opposition from GOP senators. And Tuesday, Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff and Trump’s choice to steer the Drug Enforcement Administration, mentioned he was eradicating his title from consideration.