Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s embattled pick for Defense secretary, faced growing scrutiny from Republican senators Tuesday after a new set of revelations over the weekend involving allegations of alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct in his past.
“I think some of these articles are very disturbing,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told CBS News. “He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of this stuff is going to be difficult.”
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who are among at least a half-dozen senators seen as being on the fence, remained noncommittal on Hegseth.
Collins told CNN the Senate needed “an FBI background check to evaluate the allegations, we need to have the normal committee process of questionnaires about his background and we also need to have a public hearing.”
Ernst said she would meet with Hegseth later this week to “see what he has to say” and “have a really frank and thorough conversation.”
NBC News reported Tuesday that at least six senators are “not comfortable” supporting Hegseth. But several senators defended him, including Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).
“Are soldiers sometimes wild childs? Yeah, that can happen, but it is very clear that this guy is the guy who, at a time when Americans were losing confidence in their own military, in our ability to project strength around the world, Pete Hegseth is the answer to that concern,” Lummis said, according to Politico.
The former Fox News host returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for his third round of meetings with senators since last month, along with his wife, former Fox News producer Jennifer Cunningham Rauchet.
“I appreciate the opportunity to meet with senators, it’s a great opportunity to hear their thoughts and in the advise and consent role, and I welcome and continue that,” Hegseth told reporters as he walked into a meeting at the Russell Senate Office Building alongside his wife.
The New York Times reported Friday that Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth, had accused him of abusing women in an email in 2018, as he was going through a divorce with his second wife Samantha Deering, a co-worker at Vets for Freedom, after fathering a child out of wedlock with Rauchet.
Trump’s team has since called publication of the e-mail “despicable” and Penelope Hegseth told the Times she sent a follow-up message at the time apologizing for her words.
The New Yorker reported on Sunday that Hegseth was forced to step down by two nonprofit advocacy groups he ran due to mismanagement of funds, sexual impropriety and excessive drinking. NBC News reported on Tuesday that Hegseth’s drinking also worried colleagues at Fox News, where he was a weekend host until earlier this month.
Hegseth was set to meet with Sens. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) on Tuesday. Just four Republican senators needed to side with all Senate Democrats and sink his nomination.
Senate Armed Services Committee senior member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), whose panel will handle Hegseth’s nomination, told reporters his concerns over the Army veteran “deepen by the day.”
“There’s more evidence by the day that he seems to be unfit to be secretary of Defense,” he said Tuesday.
Asked whether any whistleblowers have reached out to his office concerning Hegseth, Blumenthal said they’ve had “inquiries from a number of people who say they have information. People have come to me personally. So I think there is probably more to come.”
Ahead of one of his Tuesday meetings, Hegseth would not respond to allegations of intoxicated behavior and sexual impropriety made against him.
Budd and Schmitt, who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, have expressed support for the Hegseth, who is also a decorated Army veteran, who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Risch, the incoming chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has not yet voiced public support for him.
Hegseth also was on Capitol grounds Monday to meet with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and later with a group of roughly 10 Republican senators — also accompanied by his wife, Politico reported.
In an op-ed later published to X, Tuberville voiced strong support for Hegseth as someone who is “not beholden to the Military Industrial Complex,” and someone who would “clean up the DOD.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) suggested Hegseth’s alleged sins were not unique, when asked whether the allegations of mistreatment of women and excessive drinking would derail his nomination.
“That would not be novel in Washington, D.C.” Cornyn said, referring to “both” sets of allegations.
The lengthy amount of time between the nomination and potentially winning the Pentagon isn’t making life easier on his path to confirmation, one Senate GOP source noted, as it creates more time for critics to stir the pot in the media.
Hegseth was nominated for the post on Nov. 3 — a full three weeks before Gen. James Mattis was tapped in 2016 and nearly a month before Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in 2020.
From the announcement of his nomination, the former “Fox & Friends” personality has been considered a controversial pick due to his lack of experience helming a major organization like the Defense Department, and stated opposition to women serving in combat roles.
Hegseth has also been on the defensive over a sexual assault allegation stemming from a 2017 incident at a Republican event in California. He claims the encounter was consensual.
Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller said Tuesday that “there aren’t any concerns” with Hegseth.
“We feel very good about his positioning for being confirmed by the Senate,” Miller told CNN.
Al Weaver contributed reporting
