New Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly told President-elect Donald Trump that he believes Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, will secure enough votes to be confirmed, according to a report. “Three sources” told CBS News that Thune had told Trump in private that “he believes” Hegseth “will have the votes to be confirmed as Secretary of Defense.” However, a spokesman for Thune told the outlet that there are “two things” that are not talked about publicly: “Whip counts and private conversations with the president.”
Since Trump named Hegseth as his nominee for Secretary of Defense, the former Fox News host and personality has faced multiple smear campaigns. As Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong previously reported, one of the smears launched against him was regarding claims that his “tattoos were linked to white supremacy” when the tattoos are “related to his Christian faith, and not white supremacy.” Another smear centered around “a report on 2017 allegations from a woman” who claimed Hegseth had “raped her.”
Another smear launched against Hegseth came after the New York Times “published an angry email” that Hegseth’s mom sent him, accusing him “of mistreating women.” Hegseth’s mother later apologized for what she had written. Another smear “centered on accusations from a decade ago when fired co-workers at Concerned Veterans for America created a document complaining about the leadership,” and claimed that Hegseth “drank too much at holiday parties and after-work events,” according to Breitbart. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, previously told CNN that Hegseth’s confirmation hearing has been scheduled for January 14.
During an interview with SiriusXM podcast star and, like him a Fox News alum Megyn Kelly, Hegseth said he told President-elect Donald Trump he was prepared to “fight like hell” for him and that he welcomed an FBI background check, which appeared to startle the host.
“You’re going to get cross-examined by Democrats and potentially an FBI investigation — do you welcome an FBI investigation?” Kelly asked. “I can’t wait for an FBI investigation. Can’t wait. How soon can they start?” the SECDEF nom responded. “Really?” Kelly asked.
“Yes, because that gives me an opportunity for them to do a real investigation. What the media is doing right now is a witch hunt. It’s trial by false accusations and lies. The FBI is going to look through what’s there, and if they do their job properly—which I fully expect they will—they’ll talk to everybody and get the full story and a full understanding. That’s a report I welcome. So yeah, we’re not hiding from that one bit,” Hegseth, a former U.S. Army officer and combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, responded.