Washington — A number of Republican senators have expressed concern about Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Defense Department, potentially putting his intended nomination at risk.
Hegseth, who has been meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill this week to try to build support ahead of his confirmation hearings, has faced a round of negative stories involving allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement at veterans’ charities, repeated intoxication and infidelity.
“Some of these articles are very disturbing. He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of this stuff is, it’s going to be difficult,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told reporters Tuesday. “Time will tell.”
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, who noted he has also read the reporting and is aware of the allegations, said Hegseth will have to address them.
“I want to know if they are true and I want to hear his side of the story and he is going to have to address them,” he said Tuesday, adding that he wasn’t sure if Hegseth’s nomination would face headwinds.
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Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer Rauchet walk through the Russell Senate Office building on Capitol Hill on Dec. 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
On Monday, the New Yorker reported that before he became a full-time Fox News host, Hegseth was forced to step down from two nonprofit advocacy groups — Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America — amid complaints about his alleged behavior that included repeatedly being intoxicated while on the job, leading a hostile work environment and mismanaging the charities’ funds. CBS News reported that Jessie Jane Duff, a Marine veteran who served as one of Trump’s 2024 campaign executive directors, was among those who pushed to have him ousted from Concerned Veterans for America in 2016.
A lawyer for Hegseth has denied the allegations.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican, said Tuesday that the allegations “are a surprise to all of us” and that his ability to be confirmed by the Senate “depends on how he addresses the issues that have been raised.” Lummis said the allegations also came as a surprise to Trump.
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“Some of the earlier issues that were raised about an incident in California, I think were satisfactorily addressed and would not have interfered with his nomination, but some new things that have come to light in the last 12 to 14 hours are things he needs to address,” she said.
Hegseth, an Army veteran turned Fox News star, was investigated for sexual assault in 2017 in Monterey, California. Authorities declined to file charges in the case, saying none were “supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” Hegseth told investigators that the sexual encounter with the woman was consensual and he has denied any wrongdoing. He paid a confidential settlement to the woman out of concern that her accusation could result in his firing from Fox News, his lawyer said after the claims became public in mid-November.
But Sen. Tommy Tuberville pushed back on the notion that Trump may have concern about his pick.
“I talked to him last night,” the Alabama Republican said Tuesday. “I don’t think there’s any concern. Why would there be?”
Asked Monday whether he thought the Senate would confirm him to lead the Pentagon, Hegseth said he was “taking it meeting by meeting.”
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Trump has already had one Cabinet pick withdraw from the process. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida pulled his name from consideration amid scrutiny over allegations of sex trafficking and illicit drug use, which he denies.
Alan He
contributed to this report.
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Caitlin Yilek
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
General Motors has taken a $5bn charge against its businesses in China, laying bare the slowdown in what was once the US carmaker’s largest market.
On Wednesday, GM said that there was a “material loss in value of our investments in certain of the China joint ventures . . . in light of the finalisation of a new business forecast and certain restructuring actions”.
The company said that it would write down the value of its interest in its Chinese joint ventures by as much as $2.9bn, and record an additional $2.7bn in restructuring charges.
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GM shares were down 3 per cent in pre-market trading on Wednesday, having fallen 2.5 per cent in the previous session.
GM and Germany’s Volkswagen are two of the largest western carmakers operating in China. But like many rivals, both are struggling to maintain their position amid rising competition from local manufacturers.
Problems in China have also recently led to steep falls in quarterly profit for Toyota, Honda and BMW.
GM runs a series of joint ventures in the country alongside SAIC Motor Corp.
Earlier this month, VW also announced that it has sold its plant in Xinjiang following scrutiny over its presence in a region of China where Beijing has been accused of widespread human rights abuse.
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In October, GM’s chief executive Mary Barra told investors that the company’s restructuring measures would start to bear fruit by the end of this year.
“In China, you’ll begin to see evidence of a turnaround yet this year, with a significant reduction in dealer inventory and modest improvements in sales and share,” she said.
But analysts say western carmakers are unlikely to regain the profits and market share they once enjoyed in China, forcing many to refocus their efforts on the US, now GM’s biggest market.
THE LAST time the Senate formally rejected a president’s cabinet nominee came in 1989 when John Tower was denied the honour of becoming George H.W. Bush’s defence secretary because of his boozing and womanising. Time may be linear but politics is cyclical. The next entry in this ledger could well be Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s choice for defence secretary, because of his boozing and womanising.
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