Pete Hegseth says he will not ‘back down’ as scrutiny grows over misconduct allegations
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(WASHINGTON) — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, said on Wednesday he will not “back down” after new misconduct allegations have caused growing concern among Republican lawmakers.
“I’m doing this for the warfighters, not the warmongers. The Left is afraid of disrupters and change agents. They are afraid of @realDonaldTrump — and me. So they smear w/ fake, anonymous sources & BS stories. They don’t want truth. Our warriors never back down, & neither will I,” Hegseth wrote on X.
His comments come as a number of senators have privately signaled that they are not inclined to vote to confirm Hegseth as Trump’s next defense secretary, leading Trump’s advisers to begin discussing who may be a viable replacement, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Sources tell ABC News that at least six senators have privately indicated that they don’t intend to vote for Hegseth amid the growing allegations, including about his mistreatment of women.
Multiple sources also tell ABC News that Trump and Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke about the job Tuesday and DeSantis expressed interest in it.
Hegseth is expected to be back on Capitol Hill Wednesday for meetings with more senators.
(NEW YORK) With just weeks to go until the presidential election, a Georgia judge has ruled that certification of election results by county officials in the state is “mandatory” — a new ruling that is likely to be heralded by election experts amid rising fears that rogue election officials could seek to delay or decline to certify results after Election Day due to allegations of fraud or error.
“Election superintendents in Georgia have a mandatory fixed obligation to certify election results,” the order states.
Judge Robert McBurney, as part of an ongoing election case, found that the law is clear: “the superintendent must certify and must do so by a certain time.”
“There are no exceptions,” he wrote in the Monday night ruling.
The ruling comes after Georgia’s controversial State Election Board recently passed new rules that some voting rights activists are concerned would cause chaos in the certification process. One of those new rules allows election officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” prior to certification.
Specifically, McBurney’s ruling Monday noted that certification by the county superintendents must occur, even in the case where there are concerns about fraud or error.
“While the superintendent must investigate concerns about miscounts and must report those concerns to a prosecutor if they persist after she investigates, the existence of those concerns, those doubts, and those worries is not cause to delay or decline certification,” McBurney wrote. “That is simply not an option for this particular ministerial function in the superintendent’s broader portfolio of functions.”
Broadly, McBurney noted that the election officials must still certify the results, but report concerns to authorities:
“And if in the course of her canvassing, counting, and investigating, a superintendent should discover what appears to her to be fraud or systemic error, she still must count all votes — despite the perceived fraud — and report her concerns about fraud or error to the appropriate district attorney,” the judge wrote.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for top jobs in his administration were making the rounds on Capitol Hill on Monday ahead of potential confirmation hearings next month.
Some of the choices come with controversy — and face pointed questions from Republican senators.
Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth has had to deal with multiple allegations of misconduct and sexual impropriety, which he’s denied. Tulsi Gabbard, tapped to be the director of national intelligence, has been scrutinized over her views on Russia and a 2017 meeting with Syria’s Bashar Assad. Kash Patel, a longtime Trump ally chosen for FBI director, has vowed to take on the alleged “deep state” and Trump’s enemies.
Trump defended his selections during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired in full on Sunday.
Patel was meeting with Sens. John Cornyn, Joni Ernst, Mike Lee, Shelley Capito Moore and Chuck Grassley.
Cornyn, a key Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said after their meeting that he is inclined to support Patel and believes some of his more extreme views — such as firing agents or closing the FBI headquarters in Washington — are “hyperbolic.”
“My position, as I told Mr. Patel, is that no one should have to go through what President Trump went through by … a partisan Department of Justice and FBI — and my goal would be to restore the non-partisan functioning of the chief law enforcement agency in the country — the FBI and the Department of Justice. To me, that is the goal,” Cornyn said.
Hegseth was back for more one-on-one meetings with GOP lawmakers after four straight days last week trying to assuage concerns about reports of financial mismanagement, sexual misconduct and public drunkenness.
Trump’s defense secretary pick will meet again with Ernst, a top Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and herself a combat veteran and survivor of sexual assault.
Ernst notably was not ready to voice support for Hegseth after their meeting last Wednesday. Over the weekend, Ernst said she believed Hegseth should be thoroughly vetted and that she wanted to hear him address how he’d approach sexual assault in the military.
“I have met once with Mr. Hegseth, and we will meet again this next week,” Ernst said at a security forum in California.
Arriving Monday for her first slate of meetings was Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman and military veteran with no intelligence experience. Gabbard’s been accused of voicing support for U.S. adversaries like Russia.
She was set to meet with Sens. Mike Rounds, James Lankford and Lindsey Graham.
Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick for education secretary, also was on Capitol Hill to meet with GOP Sen. Roger Marshall and other lawmakers.
McMahon told ABC News as she will “fall in” with Trump’s education policies if confirmed to the position. However, she distanced herself from Trump’s comments about shuttering the Department of Education.
“President Trump and I have had lots of conversations, and I think his views he’s making clear on his own,” McMahon said, adding “I’m not going to get ahead of his policy.”
ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — The race for the White House is heading into the final stretch with most polls showing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump neck-and-neck in key states with just about two weeks to go.
Harris, Cheney to make the case to disaffected Republican voters
Harris is stumping with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney on Monday in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. The two will hold a moderated conversation in each of the “blue wall” states.
Cheney endorsed Harris in early September, warning Trump posed a threat to democracy after what happened on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Donald Trump was willing to sacrifice our capitol to allow law enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalized in his name and to violate the law and the Constitution in order to seize power for himself,” Cheney said at her first joint appearance with Harris earlier this month.
“I don’t care if you are a Democrat or a Republican or an independent, that is depravity, and we must never become numb to it,” she continued. “Any person who would do these things can never be trusted with power again. We must defeat Donald Trump on Nov. 5.”
Trump to survey hurricane damage before rally in North Carolina
At noon, Trump will survey devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina.
He’ll later hold a 3 p.m. rally in Greenville before a 6:30 p.m. meeting with faith leaders in Concord.
Trump has criticized the Biden-Harris response to the storm, and spread misinformation about the federal government’s recovery efforts and assistance. Such misinformation, Biden and other officials have said, is harming those who need assistance and resulting in threats against FEMA workers.
Polls show close race between Harris, Trump
The latest polling averages from 538 show the two candidates running even in key swing states Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Trump, meanwhile, has a slight lead over Harris in Georgia and Arizona.
Overall, 538’s national polling average shows Harris ahead by just 1.8%.
