Sen. Joni Ernst declined Thursday to give her full support to former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, and said the vetting process needs to continue.
Some Republican senators have already announced their support for Mr. Hegseth, but others have expressed concerns about multiple allegations he faces regarding sexual assault, infidelity and alcoholism, among others.
“I think for a number of our senators, they want to make sure that any allegations have been cleared and that’s why we have to have a very thorough vetting,” Ms. Ernst, Iowa Republican, told Fox News host Bill Hemmer during an interview Thursday. “And that’s why I was very happy to sit down with Pete and have that conversation with him.”
Ms. Ernst met with Mr. Hegseth on Capitol Hill Wednesday. In an X post after the meeting, she said the two had a “frank and thorough conversation.”
On Fox she said they talked about “a number of those issues.”
“The vetting will continue, I am certain, through the next month or so until we approach that hearing date,” she said.
Mr. Hegseth has been meeting with senators since before Thanksgiving and will continue to have meetings with them. On Wednesday he said he wouldn’t be backing down from the position.
“I’m doing this for the warfighters, not the warmongers,” he posted Wednesday on X with a picture of himself and others in military attire.
“The Left is afraid of disrupters and change agents. They are afraid of @realDonaldTrump—and me. So they smear w/ fake, anonymous sources & BS stories. They don’t want truth,” he wrote. “Our warriors never back down, & neither will I.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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