Trump transition live: Pete Hegseth says no alcohol if confirmed after meeting with Republican lawmakers
President-elect’s pick for defense secretary dogged by allegations of sexual assault, drunkenness, Islamophobia and mismanagement of a non-profit, as Ron DeSantis floated as possible alternative
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, former Fox News weekend anchor Pete Hegseth, continues to be dogged by allegations about his past, potentially making his confirmation less likely. On Wednesday his candidacy faced an “absolutely critical day.”
Hegseth took questions from the House Republican Study Committee, met with senators, and promised incoming Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker that if confirmed he wouldn’t drink.
His mother Penelope appeared on his former network earlier to defend him, having previously criticized her son’s behavior towards women in a letter.
The Trump transition team is reportedly considering alternatives to lead the Pentagon — reportedly including Senator Joni Ernst, and surprisingly, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Meanwhile, Trump’s pick to serve as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Sheriff Chad Chronister withdrew from consideration, although Trump has since said he pulled the nomination over comments he made to pastors.
In another flurry of appointments, the president-elect asked his former trade adviser Peter Navarro to return in a similar role for his new administration. Trump also picked a NASA administrator, a secretary of the army, and a chair of the SEC.
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Hegseth: ‘I’m doing this for the warfighters, not the warmongers’
Here’s a defiant Pete Hegseth on X this morning accusing “the Left” of trying to bring him down with false stories because they fear “disrupters and agents of change”.
What Republican senators have said about Pete Hegseth
“I think some of these articles are very disturbing,” admitted South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham.
“He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of this stuff is… it’s going to be difficult.”
Iowa’s Joni Ernst, another veteran who has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Hegseth, pledged to have “a really frank and thorough conversation” with him.
Louisiana’s John Kennedy said he had read up on the nominee and conceded he was “going to have to address” the stories about his past, pointing to the email Hegseth’s mother reportedly sent her son and saying: “Of all the allegations I’ve seen, that’s probably the most serious.”
Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming said Hegseth needed to address the concerns about him, James Lankford of Oklahoma said it was “reasonable” and “fair” to ask about them and Josh Hawley of Missouri admitted that some of his colleagues were “very worried” about the man’s qualifications to lead the Pentagon.
Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville stood up for him, however, saying he had asked Hegseth about the misconduct allegations and concluded: “There’s not going to be anything to this at the end of the day.”
Fox & Friends hosts defend Hegseth: ‘We will not succumb to the left’s playbook’
Lawrence Jones made the case for the defense (secretary) this morning, commenting:
“He’s a Harvard guy. He’s a Princeton guy. He’s been talking about this stuff for years, wrote the whole book about transforming the military, the way that we’re doing things, the wokeness.”
He denied the media reporting about Hegseth’s past scandals and said: “The fact that they’re going out there with unnamed sources when we sit on the couch with him almost every day, for over ten years.
“It’s just – to me, that is the stunning part, especially when you don’t reach out to his co-hosts of the show for comment to say, ‘Hey, what do you guys think about this?’ No one has been contacted about that. I think that screams that it’s a witch hunt.”
Jones then compared the affair to the controversial confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “We can’t allow them to Kavanaugh Pete because I feel like that’s what they’re trying to do right now.”
After Steve Doocy fleshed out the allegations, Emily Compagno commented: “The roadblock to a nomination process to me is almost blasphemous because of this entire thing that the American people voted into office.
“No, we will not succumb to the left’s playbook. We will not succumb to Kavanaugh becoming a verb in that the left likes to wield the media and a very public witch hunt to thwart the possibility for actual success. And that’s the whole point.”
Trump expected to be watching Hegseth’s Fox interview with interest
We will, of course, bring you all the latest on the president-elect’s defense secretary as he appears on Fox today, a session Trump himself is certain to be watching to assess how Hegseth handles himself, which could well determine whether his nomination to the cabinet is allowed to proceed.
On CNN this morning, the pundits agreed that his goose is already cooked because his own mother has described him as a man who “belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego” (even though Penelope Hegseth has now revoked her attack and said it was written in 2018 “in anger, with emotion”).
Here’s Justin Baragona on how the right-wing networks have struggled to cover the Hegseth scandals.
Right-wing networks can’t agree on how to cover Pete Hegseth’s many scandals
While Fox News employs a familiar tactic when it comes to unflattering stories about the network or MAGA, Newsmax is directly calling on Trump to drop the former Fox News star’s nomination.
Trump considers ally-turned-rival DeSantis to replace Hegseth as Pentagon chief
As promised, here’s more from James Liddell on the Florida Governor’s rumored candidacy for the defense secretary position should Hegseth be forced out.
Trump considers ally-turned-rival DeSantis to replace Hegseth as Pentagon chief
Florida governor is tipped to replace Hegseth for cabinet role, as the former Fox News host is plagued by scandals
Hegseth accused of chanting ‘kill all Muslims’ on a drunken night out
Justin Baragona has this on Trump’s nominee allegedly drunkenly shouting “kill all Muslims!” in the middle of a crowded bar while serving as the president of a veterans’ group, as first reported by The New Yorker.
Pete Hegseth accused of chanting 'kill all Muslims' on a drunken night out
Besides Hegseth drunkenly yelling the hateful Islamophobic chant, a whistelblower report alleged that he had to be stopped from storming a dancers’ stage at a Louisiana strip club.
Hegseth admitted to having five affairs during first marriage
Let’s get back to the scandal-hit defense secretary nominee.
Here’s Gustaf Kilander on his alleged extramarital activities.
Pete Hegseth admitted to having five affairs during first marriage
Trump’s nominee for defense secretary has been married three times and has been accused of sexual assault
California Democrat Adam Gray flips Republican seat as final 2024 House race called
Gray captured the western state’s 13th Congressional District on Tuesday, unseating Republican John Duarte in the final House contest to be decided this year.
His win in the farm belt seat that cuts through five counties means Republicans won 220 House seats this election cycle, with Democrats holding 215 seats.
Gray won by a margin of less than 200 votes, with election officials reporting late yesterday that all ballots had been counted.
Duarte captured the seat in 2022 when he defeated Gray by one of the closest margins in the country, 564 votes.
He was often listed among the most vulnerable House Republicans given that narrow margin of victory in a district with a Democratic tilt – about 11 points over registered Republicans.
Here’s more.
California Democrat Adam Gray flips Republican seat as final 2024 House race called
Gray’s win in the farm belt seat means Republicans won 220 House seats this election cycle, with Democrats holding 215 seats
Trump posts bizarre AI pic of himself with Canadian flag – on a Swiss mountain
Does Donald Trump want to conquer Canada?
The president-elect posted a bewildering image of him and the Canadian flag on top of a mountain just days after suggesting Canada become the US’s 51st state
“Oh Canada!” Trump captioned the AI-generated image.
There was just one problem: the mountain range appeared to be the Swiss Alps, with a peak reminiscent of the Matterhorn visible in the background.
It’s unclear exactly what Trump was referencing with the image, but clearly the neighbor up north is on his mind.
Here’s Mike Bedigan on his latest baffling contribution to the internet.
Trump posts bizarre AI pic of himself with a Canadian flag (on a Swiss mountain)
The post appeared to be a somewhat confusing reference to a joke the President-elect made with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week
Trump’s lawyers formally ask judge to dismiss hush money case
Donald Trump’s attorneys are calling on the judge overseeing his hush money trial to toss the case altogether, pointing to President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter, and raising the idea that presidential “immunity” should apply to the president-elect.
The “disruptions to the institution of the presidency violate the presidential immunity doctrine because they threaten the functioning of the federal government,” the criminally convicted former president’s attorneys wrote in a 72-page filing made public on Tuesday.
Trump’s lead criminal defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove – both of whom were nominated by Trump for top roles at the Department of Justice – quoted from President Biden’s own statement claiming that his son was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” and “treated differently.”
Here’s the latest from Alex Woodward.
Trump attorneys ask hush money judge to toss conviction after Hunter Biden pardon
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