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Some GOP senators seem tepid on Hegseth nomination as allegations pile up

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Some GOP senators seem tepid on Hegseth nomination as allegations pile up

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.
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. 

contributed to this report.

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Trump, Netanyahu at odds / Elusive Iran deal : Sources & Methods

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Trump, Netanyahu at odds / Elusive Iran deal : Sources & Methods

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (left) talks to President Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in April 2025.

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President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started the war with Iran together, but they have different ideas for how to end it.

Host Scott Detrow steps in for Mary Louise Kelly again this week. He speaks with NPR National Security Correspondent Greg Myre and NPR White House Correspondent Franco Ordoñez about the current friction between the two leaders, and where pain points have come up in the past. Also, where the elusive deal with Iran stands.

Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.org

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NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

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Trump’s name must come off the Kennedy Center by June 12

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Trump’s name must come off the Kennedy Center by June 12

Lawyers for what is currently called the Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts are instructing staff to immediately begin switching the name of the facility back to its original title.

The instructions, laid out in a memo sent Thursday by the center’s general counsel and obtained by CBS News, are the first official signal the national arts hub is complying with a federal court order to drop President Trump’s name and reconsider plans to close for two years of renovations. 

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper last week ruled in favor of Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, a member of the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees, who filed a lawsuit challenging the institution’s name change and plans to close for two years for extensive repairs beginning this summer.

Cooper found the board had overstepped its authority and ordered the president’s name to be removed from “the institution’s title, as represented on the façade of the Center, any other physical or digital signage, and official materials.”

The memo to staff Thursday said staff “must immediately change email signatures, letterhead, and other documents to reflect the name as ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,’ or ‘Kennedy Center.’”

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Changes to interior and exterior signage and any furniture carrying the current name must be switched back by next Friday, according to the memo.

The Kennedy Center didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The memo also says center officials still are “considering their options and will provide further guidance shortly” on whether the center will remain open after July 5, when extensive renovations costing $257 million are set to begin.

In his order, Cooper agreed renovations to the arts center are “sorely needed,” but he wrote his preliminary injunction does not “categorically” bar the board from closing the Kennedy Center, “should it come to this decision anew after independently balancing its multiple obligations to the Center in a prudent fashion.”

“By way of this opinion, the Court does not purport to dictate how the Center should be run, nor does it prescribe any particular plan for the institution — construction, closure, or otherwise — moving forward,” he wrote. “It simply holds the Kennedy Center Board to certain minimum requirements imposed by law. Beyond that, the Court will let the parties play on.”

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In the early weeks of his second term, Mr. Trump replaced several members of the center’s Board of Trustees with senior members of his administration and close allies, who then elected him as chair.

In December, the Kennedy Center’s board voted to change the performing arts institution’s name to The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Within hours, the Kennedy Center’s website was updated to read “The Trump Kennedy Center” and crews went to work adding Mr. Trump’s name to the building’s facade. But lawmakers and legal scholars said such a change required congressional action.

Several artists who were set to perform at the institution canceled performances and the executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra, which performs at the Kennedy Center, left for a new job.

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National Guard has done little to reduce violent crime in D.C., a new study finds

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National Guard has done little to reduce violent crime in D.C., a new study finds

National Guard members stand watch near the Lincoln Memorial on the morning of Memorial Day in Washington, DC, May 25, 2026.

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President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C. has reduced petty property crimes, but has had little to no effect on violent crime, despite the high cost to taxpayers, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan think tank Niskanen Center.

The study’s findings were published just weeks after federal officials announced that the number of troops in D.C. is set to double this summer to 5,000 as part of a “summer surge” of law enforcement ahead of events planned for America’s 250th birthday celebration.

Trump deployed the National Guard to D.C. last August, as part of the administration’s Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which he said was an effort to reduce crime and beautify the city. The task force includes hundreds of federal law enforcement — including immigration enforcement — working in conjunction with local police. It’s an approach that Trump previously said he wants to carry out in “many cities,” and already has in places like Memphis and New Orleans.

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There are currently around 2,800 National Guard members deployed to D.C. from both the city itself and about a dozen other states, all of which have Republican governors. In contrast to other controversial National Guard deployments by Trump during his second term, the president has the authority over the Guard in D.C.

Guard members do not legally have the power to carry out arrests, but can detain individuals.

Troops — many of whom are armed — are largely carrying out what are called “high visibility patrols” to make their presence known around federal property and in residential areas, parks and city metro stations in an effort to free up D.C. police to redeploy to higher-crime areas. The report found that generally hasn’t happened.

Instead, researchers found that the deployment led to a 24% drop in “opportunistic” crimes — like property crimes and vehicle break-ins. But the presence of the Guard had no effect on violent crimes, including robberies, which were already on a downward trend before Trump came back into office.

“What the Guard brought was a massive, sudden shock from the visible presence of uniformed military personnel on the streets of Washington almost overnight,” researchers wrote, calling the deployment of the Guard a “blunt and expensive instrument.”

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A recent assessment by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that it costs the federal government around $1.5 million per day for the current number of troops deployed to D.C.

“I think on balance the National Guard’s deployment is not a failure, there is success in what they’ve done. But I guess the point that we try to make is: compared to what?” says Richard Hahn, one of the authors of the study. “You could get the same or better outcomes, possibly much better outcomes, for much cheaper, if you just were very thoughtful about policing.”

In response to NPR’s request for comment about the study, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said that it “should not be taken seriously.”

“The President’s Safe and Beautiful Task Force and National Guard presence have driven down crime, beautified the city, and improved quality of life for countless individuals,” Jackson said, without providing any evidence.

It’s unclear when the planned “summer surge” would end, or if the number of National Guard troops in the city would return to their current levels in the fall.

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“Our message today is that we’re not done. We are not satisfied. We are not content with good. We are coming for perfection, and we won’t be done until we reclaim every last inch of ground on anyone seeking to do harm in our nation’s capital,” Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald said when announcing the surge.

NPR reached out to task force officials behind the Guard deployment for clarity on when the surge might start or end, but did not receive an immediate response.

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