US President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial nomination of TV host Pete Hegseth to run the Defense Department ran into trouble on Wednesday as Republican senators questioned his fitness for the powerful role.
Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer and Fox News weekend presenter, is under intense pressure over a series of misconduct allegations, including allegations of alcohol abuse and a sexual harassment claim from 2017, on which no charges were filed. Had gone.
Hegseth has denied all wrongdoing, but the controversy leaves Trump’s transition officials scrambling to avoid the embarrassment of a second Cabinet nomination amid declining Republican support in Congress.
Running the Pentagon is one of the biggest roles in public office. The Defense Department employs nearly three million military and civilian personnel, and defense spending – including care for veterans – is set to top $1 trillion in the 2023 fiscal year.
According to NBC News, six Senate Republicans — including one of Trump’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — have expressed skepticism about Hegseth’s ability to walk the tightrope for confirmation.
Questions about Hegseth’s character deepened when an old email surfaced in which Hegseth’s own mother called him an “abuser of women”.
“I think some of these articles are very troubling,” Graham told CBS News about the media coverage surrounding the nomination.
“Obviously he has a chance to defend himself here, but some of these things are going to be difficult.”
Republicans will have 53 seats in the incoming Senate majority, meaning Trump’s nominee could lose the support of just three Republican votes in his January confirmation hearing, assuming all Democrats vote against him.
The US media have presented various options, Trump said, considering one-time Republican primary rival and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The move will raise eyebrows in Washington, as the pair were most likely to reconcile after a bitter battle for the presidential nomination that left both of them hurt, although the governor supported Trump after his exit.
In what is being seen as a day of reckoning for Hegseth, the 44-year-old was scheduled to have further meetings with influential Republicans on Capitol Hill, and had his first TV interview on Fox News since being nominated.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
