President-elect Trump expressed public support for embattled defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth Friday, and the nominee said he had a “substantive conversation” with Sen. Joni Ernst. 

Hegseth, a former National Guard officer, has been meeting with Republican senators this week to rally support as allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking have surfaced. He has denied any wrongdoing. 

Ernst has not committed to voting for Hegseth. 

“Looks like Pete is doing well now,” Trump told Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” Friday. “I mean, people were a little bit concerned. He’s a young guy with a tremendous track record, actually. Went to Princeton, went to Harvard. He was a good student at both, but he loves the military. And I think people are starting to see it. So, we’ll be working on his nomination along with a lot of others.”

PETE HEGSETH SAYS HE WILL BE ‘STANDING RIGHT HERE IN THIS FIGHT’ AFTER MEETING WITH SENATORS

Trump confirmed he still has confidence in Hegseth.

“He’s a very smart guy,” Trump said. “I’ve known him through Fox, but I’ve known him for a long time. I mean, he’s basically a military guy. I mean, every time I talk to him, all he wants to talk about is the military.”

Trump said that while he didn’t have assurances from senators that his nomination would be confirmed, he believes he will get it through. 

“I’ve had a lot of senators calling me up saying he’s fantastic,” Trump said. 

Asked by Welker about the allegations of excessive drinking, Trump said, “Well, I’ve spoken to people that know him very well, and they say he does not have a drinking problem.” 

INCOMING WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY ADDRESSES TRUMP’S SUPPORT OF HEGSETH

Trump also supported Hegseth on Truth Social on Friday, writing, “Pete Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep. He was a great student – Princeton/Harvard educated – with a Military state of mind. He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense, one who leads with charisma and skill. Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, speaks to reporters after a closed-door lunch meeting with Senate Republicans at the U.S. Capitol Oct. 17, 2023, in Washington, D.C.  ( Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Hegseth wrote on his X account Friday: “I just had another substantive conversation with Senator Ernst, I appreciate her sincere commitment to defense policy, and I look forward to meeting with her again next week.”

Ernst also called their meeting “constructive” on her account, adding that the two plan to meet again next week. 

“Pete Hegseth and I will continue our constructive conversations as we move forward together in this process. We plan to meet again next week. At a minimum, we agree that he deserves the opportunity to lay out his vision for our warfighters at a fair hearing,” she said. 

Vice President-elect JD Vance also told reporters Friday that Hegseth has the incoming administration’s full support and won’t face a “sham hearing before the American media.”

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, walks through the basement of the Capitol Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

TRUMP FLOATS DESANTIS AS POTENTIAL DEFENSE SECRETARY REPLACEMENT IF HEGSETH FALTERS

“Pete Hegseth is going to get his hearing before the Senate Armed Forces Committee, not a sham hearing before the American media,” Vance told reporters while in North Carolina. “We believe Pete Hegseth is the right guy to lead the Department of Defense. That’s why Trump nominated him. We’re not abandoning this nomination.

“I fully support Pete. I think Pete’s going to get confirmed, and we are completely behind him. I have talked to Joni [Ernst]. I’ve talked to a number of my colleagues about this nomination and about other nominations. All I’m asking is people actually allow the Senate nomination process to work. We do not determine important government officials based on anonymous sourcing from the American media.”

WASHINGTON —  Job growth rebounded in November from the weather-related stall in hiring the previous month, fresh evidence that the U.S. labor market remains healthy despite signs of a slowing economy overall, according to new government data released Friday.

But the nation’s unemployment rate edged up to 4.2% last month from 4.1% as more people reported being unemployed and others left the labor force. That is still low by historical standards, although the rate has crept up from 3.7% at the start of the year.

California’s most recent unemployment rate, for October, was 5.4%. And the state has lagged behind the nation in job growth.

The U.S. job gains reported Friday were slightly stronger than what most economists had expected. Still, the pace of hiring nationally has been on a cooling trend from earlier this year. And with the rise in unemployment, financial markets are betting that the Federal Reserve will make another quarter-point rate cut at its last policy-setting meeting of the year on Dec. 18.

The central bank is striving to strike a balance between maintaining steady job gains and continuing its efforts to bring inflation down to its 2% target by keeping interest rates higher than usual. A key measure of core inflation was most recently at 2.8%.

Friday’s report showed that employers nationwide added 227,000 jobs in November, led by big gains in healthcare and leisure and hospitality. Government also added a sizable number of jobs. Taken together, these three sectors accounted for 62% of all the jobs added last month.

But the retail industry, which once tended to add a lot of seasonal help in late fall, lost 28,000 jobs in November and its payrolls have barely grown all year, a reflection of continuing difficulties at brick-and-mortar stores and some recent softening in retail sales. Online sales on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, saw strong increases while physical stores showed modest gains.

November’s overall job gains included a reversal of temporary losses in the prior month, when only 36,000 jobs were added, thanks to hurricanes and a strike by Boeing workers, which has since ended.

“Firms continue to manage their workforce carefully,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at the tax and consulting firm RSM US. He said the recent tally “speaks to a remarkable stability across the labor force even as finding a job is becoming a bit more difficult as firms become far more selective with whom they are hiring.”

California’s employment statistics for November won’t be released until Dec. 20. Some analysts, though, say Friday’s national jobs report and other recent patterns suggest that California probably hasn’t been keeping pace.

In October, employers in California shed 5,500 jobs, even though the state wasn’t affected by the hurricanes. The state has greater exposure to international trade, which has felt the effects of a strong dollar and weaker growth in China, said Sung Won Sohn, professor of economics and finance at Loyola Marymount University.

Hiring in the real estate sector has been sluggish, and it’s been slow in two of the state’s leading industries — technology and film — both of which have gone through hard times. Last month, U.S. jobs in the motion picture business were up a meager 1,900 from October. Manufacturing employment in California has been falling at a faster rate than nationally.

“In a nutshell, it’s too expensive for employees to live and work in California,” Sohn said.

Nationally, the economy is slowing from its robust pace earlier this year. So far in this quarter, the nation’s gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, looks to be expanding at roughly half the 3% annual rate in prior months.

Job growth, meanwhile, has been more volatile lately, but over the last three months payrolls increased on average by 173,000, which is down from near 200,000 in the prior 12 months.

In November, average hourly earnings for all employees in the private sector rose by 13 cents, to $35.61. That’s a 4% increase from a year ago, which is about one percentage point above the annual rate of inflation.

Republicans have big plans for spending cuts next year, but some GOP lawmakers are doubting Congress can muster the momentum for significant changes.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whom President-elect Trump tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory panel on cutting spending and the national debt, were on Capitol Hill Thursday for a series of meetings with lawmakers on how Congress and the White House can work together to achieve that goal.

And while that advisory panel is chiefly aimed at what executive actions Trump could take, lawmakers are conceding that significant, lasting change must be achieved through legislation. And some Republicans are skeptical they can get there.

“The problem’s in that room,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., referring to other GOP lawmakers who met with Musk and Ramaswamy. 

GOP SENATORS ‘VERY IMPRESSED’ WITH MUSK, RAMASWAMY DOGE FRAMEWORK AMID MEETINGS ON CAPITOL HILL

“These guys, you know, they talk real tough,” but they did not vote in ways he believed showed they were serious about cutting spending.

“You don’t see a lot of that. Now, when is that going to start? Is it going to start just because Elon and Vivek [address us]?” Burchett asked. “I just worry about us losing steam. … We’ve got to get some guts, and people have got to hold us accountable.”

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ FIRST DEMOCRAT TO JOIN CONGRESSIONAL DOGE CAUCUS

Retiring Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., told Fox News “a lot of members” stood up to suggest ways to “save money” during Thursday afternoon’s brainstorming session with Republicans and the DOGE duo.

“One would think more of them would have been willing to vote, cast votes on the floor of the House in order to do those things early,” Bishop added.

The DOGE discussions have opened up longstanding wounds within the House GOP, whose members spent a significant amount of the 118th Congress battling among themselves over how to navigate government funding and other fiscal issues. 

The national debt recently surpassed $36 trillion.

Rep. Chip Roy questioned whether fellow Republicans have the “spine” to pass spending overhauls. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

A senior House GOP aide expressed optimism about the new goal but added that Musk and Ramaswamy were “swinging for the fences.”

“The hard part is once they find the stuff to cut, I think it’s Congress who has to do the actual cutting, right?” the aide said.

Another senior GOP aide said, “The mission of DOGE is worthy and absolutely necessary, but nothing is going to change. We aren’t going to cut spending like we [have to] to get our fiscal house in order, and we aren’t going to slash waste at any significant level.”

US NATIONAL DEBT HITS A NEW RECORD: $36 TRILLION

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, also skeptical, told Republicans at Thursday’s meeting they needed to “grow a spine” to actually move meaningful spending cuts.

“I’ve said to my colleagues, ‘If you can’t print money, if, literally, it was banned today, what would you do?’ You would do what you do for your home budget. You would say, ‘Well, we can’t take a vacation here. I can’t get a fancy new car because I need to get braces for my child,’” Roy told WMAL radio host Larry O’Connor.

“We don’t ever do that, and, until we do, all of the DOGE waste-cutting in the world won’t help. We’ve got to do both. We need the waste-cutting, but we need Congress to grow a spine.”

MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

President-elect Trump tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to lead DOGE. (Brandon Bell)

Some Republicans are skeptical of having Musk and Ramaswamy lead the charge.

“They had no game plan — a wish list that they’re giving to Santa and the American people that will never be even remotely accomplished,” one GOP lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital of Thursday’s meeting.

The GOP lawmaker called DOGE a “magical department that has been erected out of thin air,” and pointed out its logo was heavily inspired by a cryptocurrency known as “dogecoin” that Musk has backed.

“They’re going to run into a brick wall called ‘members of Congress who know how to do our job,’” the lawmaker said.