Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida will join President-elect Trump at the annual Army-Navy college football game next weekend, two familiar sources told Fox News.
The collaboration between DeSantis and Trump – for the second time this month – comes after multiple sources confirmed that the president-elect is considering appointing the governor as secretary of defense as a possible replacement for Pete Hegseth, Trump’s controversial current pick to head the Pentagon. control. .
But the move also comes as Trump on Friday took to social media to write that “Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more than the Fake News would have you believe.”
DeSantis, a popular conservative governor and a Marine veteran who served in the Iraq War, bitterly battled Trump last year and early this year in a highly combative and divisive GOP presidential nomination race. But the two Republican heavyweights appeared to make peace after the primaries, and DeSantis helped raise money for Trump during the general election.
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held multiple press conferences in preparation for storms on October 7, 2024, as Hurricane Milton threatened Florida. (Florida Governor’s Office)
DeSantis, who was re-elected in a landslide in 2022 but is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026, is “very strong” in the race to replace Hegseth, multiple sources told Fox News.
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Another source told Fox News’ top political anchor and “Special Report” host Bret Baier that it was the president-elect himself who brought up the governor’s name, and that Trump and DeSantis discussed the idea when they met on Tuesday while appearing together at a rally in Florida. memorial service for fallen law enforcement officers in Palm Beach County.
Donald Trump’s President-elect Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense is accompanied by his wife Jennifer Rauchet as they walk through the basement of the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The reporting from Fox News and other organizations this week came as Hegseth continued his meetings with Republican senators as he pushed for confirmation as Minister of Defense.
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Hegseth, an Army National Guard officer who deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and was previously a Fox News host, is facing a series of allegations of binge drinking and sexual misconduct. He has denied allegations that he assaulted women and vowed not to drink “a drop of alcohol” if appointed defense minister.
An apparently defiant Hegseth told reporters Thursday afternoon that “this will not be a process tried in the media. I don’t answer to anyone in this group. None of you, not on that camera at all. I answer to President Trump: who received 76 million votes on behalf and a mandate for change.
Trump argued in his social media post that Hegseth “will be a fantastic, energetic Secretary of Defense… someone who leads with charisma and skill.”
Then-President Donald Trump attended the annual Army-Navy football game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 8, 2018. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
The Army-Navy game is scheduled for Dec. 14 in Landover, Maryland. It will be the 125th game in the legendary football series between the two military service academies.
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Trump attended the game as president-elect in 2016 and three more times during his first administration.
