USA Under pressure: Trump's candidate for the Pentagon fights for votes
US President-elect Donald Trump's controversial preferred candidate for Secretary of Defense is coming under increasing pressure in the face of serious allegations.
05.12.2024, 03:02
SDA
Television presenter Pete Hegseth went on the offensive on Wednesday in view of a possible lack of votes for his confirmation in the Senate. The 44-year-old gave interviews, spoke to senators in the US Congress in Washington - and even his mother spoke on television. Whether this will be enough to make up for the apparent lack of support in his own party remains uncertain.
Since Hegseth's nomination for the important ministerial post, new accusations against the 44-year-old have gradually come to light, including allegations of sexual assault against women, racist comments and alcohol abuse. The ex-soldier rejects the accusations. "The press is peddling one anonymous story after another to slander me and put me down," he wrote in an opinion piece in the "Washington Post".
Mother Hegseth: "Pete is a new man"
A few days ago, an e-mail from his mother became public in which she accused her son of treating women badly. Hegseth's mother does not deny having written the e-mail a few years ago. However, she says she sent an apology email to her son shortly afterwards. On the right-wing conservative Fox News channel, Penelope Hegseth defended the 44-year-old: "Pete is a new man," she emphasized. Her son does not abuse women.
Hegseth herself announced in an interview: "We will fight like hell. There is no reason to back down. Why should we back down?" However, it remains to be seen whether he was able to convince enough senators during his campaign tour in Washington with his wife Jennifer Rauchet at his side.
Anyone who wants to become a minister must be confirmed in the Senate, and although Trump had initially threatened to circumvent this rule with a constitutional dodge, he no longer brought this up publicly. In the Senate, there are reservations about Hegseth even among the Republican members of the chamber. It can be assumed that all Democratic senators will vote against Trump's preferred candidate. Due to the narrow majority of Republicans in the Senate, Hegseth can only afford three dissenters.
No alcohol as Secretary of Defense
However, significantly more than three Republican senators have recently expressed their unease about Hegseth's appointment. Senator Roger Wicker said that Hegseth had told him in conversation that he would no longer drink alcohol should he be confirmed as Secretary of Defense. "He thinks the job is so important that he suggested that on his own." Hegseth himself said that the meeting with the future Republican majority leader in the Senate, John Thune, had gone "great". The latter did not comment himself.
Many senators are reluctant to make public statements for fear of alienating Trump. It is therefore all the more remarkable that the opposition to Hegseth is nevertheless so great that he now has to pull out all the stops to have any chance at all in the Senate vote. The two more moderate Republican senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins do not want to meet Hegseth until next week - they are seen as possible dissenters. Collins demanded that Hegseth undergo an FBI background check.
There have been doubts about Hegseth's qualifications for the powerful post at the head of the Department of Defense and the world's most powerful armed forces from the outset. He is primarily known to viewers of the right-wing conservative TV channel Fox News as a presenter. Although Hegseth was a soldier himself and has been on military missions abroad in the past, he has never held high-ranking military leadership positions. He also has no political experience or in-depth expertise in national security.
Names for Hegseth's replacement are already circulating
There is already speculation as to who could replace Hegseth should Trump withdraw his nomination. The name of his former domestic political opponent Ron DeSantis, who once wanted to move into the White House himself, has been mentioned. Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa, who served in the US military herself, is also being discussed. The name of Senator Bill Hagerty from Tennessee is also circulating. Trump sent him to Japan as ambassador during his first term in office.
Trump is unlikely to like the fact that his preferred candidate is facing strong headwinds. According to reports, however, he is also not happy about the allegations against Hegseth that have recently come to light - and feels that he has been poorly informed by the 44-year-old. A few weeks ago, Trump already had to replace one of the candidates for his preferred cabinet: Republican Matt Gaetz, who was controversial even within his own ranks due to his radical views and agitation in Congress and whom Trump had earmarked as Attorney General, withdrew in the face of concentrated criticism and public pressure.
