Senate Republicans say Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s choice to head the Defense Department, faces a very tough path to confirmation in the Senate and his bleak prospects have been communicated directly to the Trump transition team, which is now mulling other options.
Senate sources say there is a block of likely “hard no’s” in the Senate GOP conference and identify Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as lawmakers who view Hegseth’s nomination very skeptically.
“I don’t know that there’s a real clear path,” said one Republican senator, who added that colleagues “are very apprehensive” about Hegseth’s nomination.
“It’s damaging to the president,” the senator added. “It doesn’t help us in the Senate.”
Hegseth on Wednesday waged a significant effort to salvage his nomination, including by pledging to Republican senators that he would stop drinking if confirmed as secretary of Defense.
And some Republican senators, even those who are defense hawks, think Hegseth could be a good choice to lead the Pentagon, citing his background as a decorated combat veteran and his lack of deep connections to the Defense Department’s network of generals who tend to resist big changes.
But Republicans are also hoping to be spared the headache and embarrassment of public confirmation hearings in which women who have accused Hegseth of sexual misconduct or former colleagues who have accused him of unprofessional behavior might testify.
GOP lawmakers say they don’t want to publicly call for Hegseth to resign based on anonymous allegations. They argue that a key difference between Hegseth and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who recently dropped his bid to become........