Piet Hegseththe former National Guard officer appointed by President-elect Trump to lead the Defense Department said he has had “great” conversations with senators amid efforts to shore up his confirmation, and that he is “in this this battle stood’.
On Thursday, Hegseth said he was refusing to withdraw from a fight as his nomination remains in limbo amid allegations of binge drinking and sexual misconduct. He has denied any wrongdoing.
“We’ve had great conversations about who I am and what I believe,” Hegseth said of his meetings with senators. “And honestly, the man I am today, because of my faith in my lord and savior Jesus Christ and my wife Jenny here, I am a different man than I was years ago.”
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Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, is accompanied by his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, as they walk through the basement of the Capitol in Washington DC on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
“And that’s a redemption story that I think a lot of Americans appreciate,” he added. “And I know from fellow vets I’ve spent time with that they resonate with that too. You fight, you go through hard things in hard places on behalf of your country. And sometimes that changes you a little bit.”
An email from Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth, was recently leaked in which she was critical of his past relationships with women. She joined ‘FOX and Friends’ on Wednesday morning to set the record straight. She said she wrote the email in a passionate moment following her son’s divorce, but apologized hours after sending it.
Hegseth’s mother also said she did not believe the allegations against him.
TRUMP SET DESANTIS AS POTENTIAL REPLACEMENT FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY IF HEGSETH FALT
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, attend a meeting with Senator Mike Rounds, R-S.D., member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. , on Thursday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump is reportedly considering appointing Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as Secretary of Defense instead of Hegseth, amid the allegations against him.
But Hegseth brushed off the potential replacement, telling reporters he was willing to fight.
“As long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I will stand here in this fight and fight to return our Pentagon to what it needs to be,” he said.
Hegseth also told reporters that he doesn’t answer to the media, only to Trump, God, his family and the senators who will vote on his confirmation.
On Thursday, Hegseth said the conversations with senators were “robust and candid, sometimes involving big questions about policy and personality.”
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“So we’re going to earn those votes,” he said. ‘We fight all the time. I am grateful to have the President’s support because his vision for this Department of Defense is to return it to its core capability: deterring our enemies and, if necessary, defeating their enemies.”
Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.
