Consider This from NPR - Can Pete Hegseth's nomination survive?

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

At the time we publish this episode, Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's pick to run the Pentagon, is struggling to hold onto his nomination. There's an ever growing list of accusations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and financial misconduct.The former Fox and Friends weekend host has spent Wednesday meeting with Senators and doing interviews trying to control the damage.Pete Hegseth's nomination for Secretary of Defense hangs in the balance...will he survive? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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help keep it going. Support NPR at plus.npr.org. Again, that is plus.npr.org. Okay? On to today's episode. I am here to tell the truth, to tell the truth to the American people and tell the truth to the senators on the hill, especially our female senators. I really hope that you will not listen to the media and that you will listen to Pete. Pete is Pete Hegseth, president-elect Trump's pick to lead the Defense Department in his second administration. And the woman urging senators on the Hill, especially the female ones, to listen to Pete.

That's his mother, Penelope Hegseth. And I want people to look at Pete, judge people, or understand him for who he is today, and to disregard the media. That was seven years ago. And most of it is misinformation. Hegseth's mother was talking to Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy about an email she wrote to her son accusing him of routinely mistreating women and displaying a lack of character. The email, which was written during Hegseth's 2018 divorce, was published this week by the

New York Times. His mother says she wrote the email in haste during an emotional time and she says today her relationship with Hegseth is solid. Pete and I are very close today. In fact, our whole family is very tight-knit. As Penelope Hegseth did damage control on Fox News, her son was doing the same with senators on Capitol Hill. And he told CBS News he still has the president-elect's support.

I spoke to the president-elect this morning. He said, keep going, keep fighting. Find your way. Numerous allegations have swirled around Trump's Pentagon pick since he was nominated. Hegseth drank in ways that concerned his colleagues at Fox News. CBS News has learned GOP insiders pushed to remove him as the leader of a veterans group back in 2016 over allegations of financial mismanagement. Repeated in… From mayors reporting, quote, a previously undisclosed whistleblower report on

Hegseth's tenure. But despite denials from Hegseth and Trump's transition team, some Republican senators are expressing concern. Senator Lindsey Graham. Some of these articles are very disturbing. He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of this stuff is it's gonna be difficult. Consider this, Pete Hegseth's nomination as Secretary of Defense hangs in the balance. Will he survive? From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. The Indicator is a podcast where daily economic news is about what matters to you. Workers have been feeling the sting of inflation.

So as a new administration promises action on the cost of living, taxes, and home prices, The S&P 500 biggest post-election day spike ever. follow all the big changes and what they mean for you. Make America affordable again. Listen to The Indicator, the daily economics podcast from NPR. It's Consider This from NPR. At the time we published this episode Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's pick to run the Pentagon, is struggling to hold on to his nomination. He faces an ever-longer list of accusations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse, and financial

mismanagement. The former Fox & Friends weekend host has spent Wednesday meeting with senators, doing interviews trying to control the damage. Those are two of the things I talked about with NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh and NPR media correspondent David Folkenflick. David, you start because I know you have got some new reporting about Pete Hagstaff. What have you learned? We are reporting today that a former Fox colleague of Pete Hegseth says that he got handsy repeatedly

at incidents when he was inebriated and once even groping her bottom at a Manhattan bar. She asked NPR not to be identified for fear of retribution. And when you put this to Pete Hegseth, what is he or his team saying in response? So I corresponded with his attorney, Timothy Parlatori, who says it's a false claim. This follows obviously, among other things, report in the New Yorker that talked about an incident in 2017 in California in which he was accused of sexually assault. He paid that off, although he has now denied that incident occurred. He said it was consensual. And there was a report last night from NBC that 10 current and former Fox colleagues alleged that he drank alcohol routinely at a concerning level.

Pelletori, head justice attorney, told me that those claims have been thoroughly debunked in his phrase by a number of other Fox News employees, including Hegseth's former co-host, Will Cain, who have spoken out on the record using their names to dispute that characterization of Hegseth. I asked Fox about all this. It said that it had not received complaints about the accusation of the groping in the bar and also had no knowledge of the California incident or the settlement to keep that private. Danielle Pletka Drew, let me bring you in here because what ultimately will matter is what the senators who will vote to confirm or not confirm Hegseth make of these reports, particularly Republican

senators. Right. I mean, these reports are definitely coming up in these individual meetings that Hegseth has been having. So far, no Republican senator has publicly said they will vote no on Hegseth's nominations. Some of Trump's top allies in the Senate, Bill Haggerty of Tennessee are waving off the allegations saying they are just that, allegations. But we are hearing about these individual one-on-one meetings. A source familiar with the process tells our colleague Sue Davis that Hegseth is

getting quote, clear, direct, and pointed questions and giving clear, direct, and pointed answers. One of those senators sat down with him this afternoon, Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst. She served in the Army National Guard, and she said they had, quote, a frank and thorough conversation. The challenge really for Hegseth is a math one. Right now, he can only afford to lose three Republican votes, and there are more than four Republicans who say they want more information. They want to see an FBI background check. They want to see Hegseth answer some tough questions now in their meetings before there's a public hearing because they

expect Democrats will aggressively question Hegseth and they don't want any surprises. Danielle Pletka David, we heard just a moment ago, Hegseth himself speaking out saying, I'm not going anywhere. And indeed, he does appear to be fighting to hang on to this nomination. How is he doing that? Well, in terms of media, there are two things worth noting. His mother Penelope Hegseth went on Fox and Friends, the weekday version, the show he used to host, the place where he auditioned for the role to defend him.

She spoke to the audience, but also directly to its most important viewer, Donald Trump himself. And then he went on the podcast show of former Fox colleague, Megyn Kelly, an interesting choice she once accused the late Roger Ailes Fox's former chairman of trying to sexually assault her and has spoken out on that issue. But she also has swung hard to be a voice that's supportive of Donald Trump and while posing some pretty tough questions to him, was also offering the warm embrace and pointing out how, in her words, unfair the media had been to him. Danielle Pletka Dear Drew, you get last word.

On this case, again, that Hegseth is gonna have to make to senators who have to be convinced to confirm him. Danielle Pletka Right. He's got work to do. The chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, sat down with Hegseth and told reporters Hegseth committed to not drink while serving as defense secretary as a response to all these reports about excessive drinking. You know, he has some allies, but he still has to make the case to some other Senate

Republicans like main Republican Susan Collins, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski. If there are any other reports that come out with concerns about his capacity to lead the department? Republicans I talked to say it's just going to make it that much harder. Beyond that, he has to keep Trump's support. Other outlets are reporting Trump may be looking at backups like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. And Piers Deirdre Walsh and David Falkenfleck. Thank you. Thank you. You bet.

This episode was produced by Brianna Scott and Jordan Marie Smith. It was edited by Courtney Dornig and Kelsey Snell. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Mary Louise Kelly.