As Hegseth fights to head Pentagon, Trump not working the phones to save him: Sources
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(WASHINGTON) — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, was back on Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with Republican lawmakers as misconduct allegations continued to cloud his selection to lead the Pentagon.
Behind the scenes, Trump’s political team is focused on figuring out where female Republican senators stand on Hegseth, according to two people involved in the conversations. Trump’s advisers are fully aware that with such a thin GOP Senate majority, Hegseth’s fate could all come down to the women in the conference.
Sen. Joni Ernst, a key Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee that will hold his confirmation hearings, notably declined to voice support for Hegseth after meeting with him on Wednesday and then again on Thursday on Fox News, which Trump is known to watch.
Ernst told Fox News host Bill Hemmer she had a “very frank” and “productive” discussion with Hegseth. When pressed by Hemmer that that didn’t sound as if she had gotten to a yes on his confirmation, she replied, “I think you are right.”
Ernst is the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate and a sexual assault survivor herself. Hegseth has faced allegations of sexual assault (which he’s denied) and previously said that women should not serve in ground combat roles in the military.
ABC News was told Trump has expressed to those close to him that Hegseth should have been more honest and forthcoming about the challenges he could face getting through the confirmation process given his history.
Trump, who is considering other options (a list that includes Ernst) for the role, has not been working the phones for Hegseth — as he did for Matt Gaetz.
Gaetz was Trump’s original pick for attorney general but said he withdrew his name from consideration as he faced his own allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump has since tapped former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi to head up the Justice Department, pending Senate confirmation.
Hegseth has told senators his mother has been making calls to senators on his behalf, according to sources familiar with the matter. He has also told senators he is open to a background check, according to multiple sources.
“The allegation was made about him being intoxicated at several times and so the questions that every member will be asking him led to his statement,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, current ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and expected to take over the chairmanship in January — presiding over Hegseth’s confirmation hearings.
Hegseth on Thursday was expected to meet with Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Jim Banks of Indiana, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
Hegseth told reporters as he walked through the Capitol that he’d spoken with Trump on Thursday morning.
“He is behind us all the way,” Hegseth said when asked by ABC News’ Jay O’Brien what Trump had told him during their conversation.
When asked if he thought he had the votes to be confirmed, Hegseth dodged the question but said he was continuing to work his way through the process.
(WASHINGTON) — Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said Thursday she isn’t ready to support Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for defense secretary.
“Well, I did have a very long, lengthy discussion with Pete yesterday, and I do appreciate his service to the nation. I also am a combat veteran. So, we talked about a number of those issues, and we will continue with the vetting process. I think that is incredibly important,” Ernst told Fox News. “So, again, all I’m saying is we had a very frank and productive discussion, and I know that we will continue to have conversations for months.”
Pressed by host Bill Hemmer that it “doesn’t sound in your answer that you got to a yes,” Ernst replied, “I think you are right.”
Hegseth continues to make the rounds on Capitol Hill to try to convince senators that he’s up to the job amid allegations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and mismanagement of finances. He denies the allegations.
He met Wednesday with Ernst, a key Republican member of the Armed Services committee and herself a survivor of sexual assault.
Upon leaving the meeting, Hegseth told reporters that he and Ernst had an “engaging and instructive conversation.”
Ernst later posted, “I appreciate Pete Hegseth’s service to our country, something we both share. Today, as part of the confirmation process, we had a frank and thorough conversation.”
ABC News has previously reported Ernst to be on a growing list of candidates emerging to possibly replace Hegseth as Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense.
When asked Wednesday if there was any chance she was being considered to replace Hegseth, she merely responded, “Mr. Hegseth is the nominee.” She was tight-lipped over whether their meeting alleviated any concerns she might have.
Ernst is the first female combat veteran in the Senate. She also has a long record of supporting legislation aimed at addressing sexual assault and harassment in the military, and has been outspoken about her own experiences with sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence.
Notably, Hegseth has said that women should not serve in combat roles in the military, and he continues to face his own allegations of sexual misconduct and impropriety.
Hegseth has denied the sexual assault allegations. On Wednesday, he told the Megyn Kelly show “absolutely not” in regards to rape accusations, and he denied many of the claims that he mistreated women.
All eyes will be on Ernst as Hegseth’s confirmation process plays out. Last month, Ernst told ABC News that an FBI background check into Hegseth would be “helpful.”
In an interview with Bloomberg News in 2019, Ernst first disclosed the details of her rape as a college student at Iowa State University, in which she tearfully retold being in a “physically and sexually abusive” relationship with someone who raped her.
During her college years, she volunteered at a safe house for battered and abused women and children.
While speaking to Bloomberg, Ernst also alleged that her ex-husband, Gail Ernst, had physically abused her in an incident in which he “grabbed [her] by the throat” before he “threw [her]” on the ground and “pounded [her] head.” Gail Ernst declined to comment on the allegations at the time.
Ernst also claimed to have endured sexual harassment in the military, which she described to Time Magazine in 2014.
“I had comments, passes, things like that,” Ernst said. “These were some things where I was able to say stop and it simply stopped but there are other circumstances both for women and for men where they don’t stop and they may be afraid to report it.”
“Sexual assault has no place in our military — or anywhere else — and it’s far past time we take more steps toward preventing and reducing these heart-wrenching crimes,” Ernst said in a statement after introducing a bipartisan bill in 2021 to prevent military sexual assault.
Ernst was a member of Iowa State University’s ROTC program at 20 years old before joining the U.S. Army Reserve. She later served as a company commander of an Iowa National Guard transportation unit in Kuwait.
She spent 23 years in the National Guard and Army Reserve and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
Ernst has been vocal about her support for Trump, despite him also having been accused of sexual assault by multiple women — which he has repeatedly denied. Ernst was even a contender to be his running mate in the 2016 election.
“I would encourage women to stand up and say, ‘You know what, I’m not going to put up with his nonsense, but I do agree with him on this policy,'” Ernst said in a 2016 interview with WHO. “Sometimes we have to look beyond certain aspects of a person and figure out do we agree.”
She also told Bloomberg that it was “outrageous to suggest that anyone who has been the victim of sexual assault should therefore be a Hillary Clinton supporter.”
Ernst became the first woman to represent Iowa in either house of Congress when she was elected to the Senate in 2014.
(WASHINGTON) — As Americans head to the polls this Election Day, trust that their vote will be counted accurately and that the democratic process is safe from interference is vital, experts said.
But with early voting well underway and just days before the remainder of the 2024 presidential election ballots are cast, unfounded conspiracy theories about the safety of voting machines loom over the fight for the White House.
The 2020 election saw former President Donald Trump sparking some distrust in the voting system that was purported by some fellow Republicans, supporters and media outlets.
Despite voting machine conspiracy theories, such as internet hacking and widespread physical tampering, being debunked, misinformation about the democratic process is ubiquitous on social media and fodder for some of the recent lawsuits filed by RNC-aligned groups in key swing states.
Elon Musk — a major Trump backer and the owner of X — recently continued to stoke voting machines falsehoods, telling the crowd at a town hall in Pennsylvania, “The last thing I would do is trust a computer program, because it’s just too easy to hack,” Musk said.
However, multiple reviews into 2020 voter fraud claims and a landmark defamation lawsuit between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News found the vote-rigging conspiracy theories, and Trump’s assertion he won the election over President Joe Biden, to be unfounded.
In April 2023, Dominion reached a nearly $800 million settlement with Fox for spreading the false theories across the conservative news stations’ platforms.
Additionally, state and federal courts dismissed more than 60 lawsuits across six states from Trump and his allies aiming to overturn the 2020 election results.
“There was no credibility to those claims,” Lauren Cristella, the president of Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan government watchdog organization in Philadelphia, told ABC News.
“I am confident that our elections are free, fair, safe and secure, and that the systems we have in place, the checks and balances that we have in place, are working,” Cristella added.
So, how do voting machines work? And what security measures are in place from the federal level to the community level to ensure that every vote is counted and free from interference?
Before Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris vie for America’s vote on Nov. 5, experts said understanding the security measures that follow ballots from the polls to the count can bring clarity and comfort to the process.
What voting machines are used in the election?
While election officials use technology for voter registration, tallying, and, in some cases, vote-casting, the system is largely centered around paper ballots.
“In nearly all places across the country, about 98% of voters, when they cast their ballot, there is going to be a paper record of their vote,” Derek Tisler, who serves as counsel in the Brennan Center for Justice’s elections and government program, told ABC News.
Historically, there have been five types of voting machines used in the U.S.: hand-counted paper, mechanical lever machines, punch-card machines, scanned paper ballots and direct-recording electronic devices, according to the MIT Election Lab.
Going into the 2024 election, optical scan paper ballot systems are widely used to tally physical ballot votes, which can be likened to the technology used to score a standardized test, according to MIT.
Voters mark their ballots in a private voting booth and then it is scanned as it’s being deposited in the ballot box, with the votes being tallied at the end of the day.
Direct recording electronic systems utilize buttons or a touch screen to record votes, often with a paper ballot record for audits or a recount.
And ballot-marking devices and systems, which are entirely electronic, are primarily used to accommodate voters with disabilities.
There are 10 different voting system manufacturers that have been tested and approved by the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC), including Clear Ballot, Dominion Voting Systems and Election Systems & Software (ES&S), to name a few.
The road to approval includes stress tests on the equipment and checks for software flaws, making sure the machines have the basic functionality, accessibility and security capabilities required of these systems, according to the EAC.
“So every voting system, including ours, goes through a certification process in accredited test labs,” Chip Trowbridge, the chief technology officer of Clear Ballot, told ABC News.
“Every change, no matter how big or how small, if it’s a source code or software change, has to be reviewed,” Trowbridge said.
Individual states and local jurisdictions also have certification processes for voting machine manufacturers that vary based on location, according to Trowbridge.
What safety measures are taken to protect voting machines?
One of the first lines of defense against tampering is the physical security of voting machines, according to Ted Allen, an integrated systems engineer professor at Ohio State University and member of the MIT Election Lab.
Leading up to Election Day and after votes are cast, the machines are stored in secure locations with access limited to election officials, Allen told ABC News.
At polling locations, voting machines are constantly under surveillance, with election officials and security personnel trained to ensure that no unauthorized access is possible, according to Allen.
“The paper, the chain of custody of the equipment and the chain of custody of the ballots are all generally, very carefully studied and controlled,” Allen said.
The 2020 election, however, did see a few individuals being charged for with tampering with voting machines.
Tina Peters, a Republican election official in Colorado, was sentenced to nine years in prison for leading a security breach of the county’s election system after being inspired by false and baseless claims of voting fraud.
She was convicted for giving an individual access to the election software she used for her county. Screenshots of the software appeared on right-wing websites.
In Georgia, bail bondsman Scott Hall was charged in relation to the alleged breach of voting machine equipment in the wake of the 2020 election in Coffee County.
Hall and several of his co-defendants allegedly “entered into a conspiracy to intentionally interfere” with the 2020 election results and “unlawfully” access voting machines in order to obtain data, including images of ballots.
Hall pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties. He will get probation and has agreed to testify moving forward, including at the trial of other co-defendants.
While no system is ever completely impervious to threats, voting machines are protected by a range of technical and procedural measures that make them extremely difficult to hack.
A spokesperson for Election Systems & Software, Inc., told ABC News, that outside of physical controls, the company’s voting equipment adheres to secure practices for the creation, transfer and storage of important election files and data.
Using encryption and digital signing for data, cryptographic modules that meet the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) and creating encrypted USB flash drives programmed for that specific election all prevent tampering by unauthorized agents, according to ES&S.
Do voting machines connect to the internet?
A key safeguard in making voting machines difficult to hack is the lack of internet access during the voting process.
The machines used to scan ballots at a voting precinct are incapable of having any Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, radio or network connection at all, according to Trowbridge.
“Those systems absolutely cannot have any network,” Trowbridge said. “In fact, if you look at the machines from Clear Ballot, the only wire that comes out of them is a power cord.”
Central scanning equipment is networked, according to Trowbridge, but the technology is on an air-gapped network that is completely separate from the public internet.
This significantly reduces the risk of remote hacking or unauthorized access from external sources, he said.
Even if a hacker attempts to access a voting machine, they would need to physically tamper with the machine itself, which may be more challenging due to the physical security measures.
Looking to Nov. 5, Derek Tisler emphasized there are always checks and balances available in the process to make sure that there is no one individual who could disrupt anything.
“Public trust is so essential to the democratic process, and that is why elections are transparent,” Tisler said.
(WASHINGTON) — Congress is gathering for a joint session to certify the results of the 2024 election, the final step before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, after some major changes to security for the ceremony and the law that dictates how it’s carried out.
Before 2021, the Congress’ constitutionally mandated responsibilities to count electoral certifications from the states and certify the results on Jan. 6 often passed in less than an hour with little notice from the public.
But the events of four years ago make this a more closely watched affair.
Washington, D.C., is under heightened security — not only for the certification of the vote, but also for the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter at the end of this week and Trump’s inauguration in two weeks.
There are no known threats to the certification of the electoral votes, authorities say, but police are preparing for the possibility.
And the Washington area is forecast to get its heaviest snowfall in a few years on Monday, which could impact government operations, but it isn’t expected to prevent certification.
Here’s what we expect to happen on Monday:
Security
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request to designate Washington a National Security Special Event for the counting and certification of the vote, which was approved in September. This allows for significant resources from the federal government, as well as state and local partners, to be utilized in a comprehensive security plan, with the U.S. Secret Service as the lead agency.
The Secret Service is deploying agents and specialists from field offices across the country to supplement staffing. D.C. Police will be fully activated beginning Sunday morning and are bringing in nearly 4,000 additional officers from across the country to assist with policing for the special events. Drones will be in use for both events and training preparations.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told reporters, “The United States Capitol Police [are] better staffed, better trained, better equipped than ever before, to protect our Capitol and protect our Congress.”
“The legislative process will proceed without disruption, and our government will have a peaceful transfer of power,” he said.
Capitol Police has completed more than 100 recommendations its inspector general made after the Jan. 6 attack, including increasing staffing, training, and building a new intelligence operation.
The D.C. National Guard confirmed to ABC News that it has been activated and will assist with events this month. Some 500 members of the Guard are on standby for Jan. 6 and Carter’s funeral. A request for 7,800 members of the military for Trump’s inauguration is pending approval.
Fencing is installed around a perimeter that goes beyond the office buildings on both sides of the Capitol, and there’s an inner perimeter that surrounds the immediate Capitol complex. The fencing was implemented for the first time after the 2021 insurrection and will be similar to what was installed for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress last summer.
The fencing on Capitol Hill and near the White House is expected to remain through February, sources told ABC News.
No major groups have applied for permits or announced any protests for the election certification.
Snow day
D.C. is expected to get between 8 to 12 inches of snow through Monday but members are expected to get to the Capitol.
House Republican leaders urged members to stay in Washington over the weekend and Speaker Mike Johnson is plowing ahead with Monday’s certification.
In an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, Johnson said he’s hoping for full attendance.
“Whether we’re in a blizzard or not, we are going to be in that chamber making sure this is done,” Johnson said.
The role of the vice president
Vice President Kamala Harris will preside over the certification, putting her in the unenviable position of certifying the victory of her 2024 opponent. Congress enacted a law in 2022 to define the role of the vice president as purely ceremonial.
The Electoral Count Reform Act modified some of the provisions that Trump attempted to use to challenge the electoral count on Jan. 6, 2021.
The law also makes it harder harder for Congress to challenge a state’s electoral votes. The law raised the threshold required to object to a state’s electoral votes from one senator and one representative to one-fifth of each chamber and it takes one half of each chamber to sustain objections.
Though there were objections to states’ electors that led to the dissolution of the joint session in 2021, none were sustained by a half-chamber vote in either the Senate or the House.
The law also cleaned up vague language about what date states must select their electors and created an expedited procedure for federal courts, or the Supreme Court when necessary, to hear cases with over state executives’ duty to issue and transmit to Congress the certification of appointed electors.
Certifying the vote
Procession of the ballots: The sealed votes arrived at the Capitol addressed to the vice president in her role as president of the Senate. The votes are placed in ceremonial leather-bound boxes and processed from the Senate to the House by a group of Senate pages.
Procession of senators to the House: Senators follow the electoral boxes to the House to convene the joint session.
Members convene for joint session: Federal law stipulates that members must convene at 1 p.m. for the opening of the presidential election results. The House sergeant at arms announces the president of the Senate (Harris) and senators as in the State of the Union address, and then the president of the Senate takes the dais and becomes the presiding officer of the ceremony. The speaker of the House usually sits behind the vice president.
“Tellers” come to the dais: Two House members and two Senate members who have been selected by the speaker and Senate majority leader help shepherd the ceremony by reading out the votes alphabetically by state. This is typically the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Rules and House Administration committees.
Harris reads the votes by each state in alphabetical order: Starting with Alabama, Harris will open the certificates and hand them down to one of the tellers. After the teller announces the result, Harris will ask if there are any objections. If there are objections as there were in 2021, this would be when they’re heard.
If the threshold for an objection is reached: Harris would announce that the two chambers will deliberate separately on the pending objection and report its decision back to the joint session. The Senate would withdraw from the joint session and return to its chamber. Both chambers would get up to two hours to debate whether to uphold the objection. It requires the vote of half of each chamber to sustain an objection.
Never in their history has either chamber sustained an objection.
Completing the process: The vice president will announce the whole number of electoral votes (538) and what constitutes a simple majority (217) and announce how many electoral votes each candidate got, then do the same for vice president.The vice president will declare the joint session dissolved. Usually there is applause, and the certification is complete.
How long does all this take?: There have been instances in which certification has taken less than half an hour. In 2017, the certification of President Trump’s first term, presided over by then-Vice President Joe Biden, took 41 minutes.
In 2021, Congress convened at 1 p.m. in a joint session and, because of both a prolonged recess due to the breach of the Capitol and multiple state objections, did not complete its work certifying the election until 3:39 a.m. on Jan. 7.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
