(Bloomberg) -- Senate Republican Joni Ernst, a combat veteran and rape survivor influential with GOP colleagues on military matters, pointedly declined to support Pete Hegseth’s embattled defense secretary nomination, calling for further investigation of allegations against him.
Her comments, a day after a private meeting with Hegseth, show Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee unable to turn the tide of a rising storm of criticism. More allegations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and mismanagement of two veterans organizations are surfacing. And Trump has begun to examine alternative prospects.
Hegseth was defiant Thursday, saying he is determined to carry out Trump’s goals at the Pentagon, including ending “politically correct approaches of how we fight and conduct wars.”
“As long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I’m going to be standing right here in this fight, fighting to bring our Pentagon back to what it needs to be,” he said after a meeting with Republican Senator Ron Johnson.
Ernst, a member of the Senate panel that will hold hearings on his nomination, said in an interview with Fox News Thursday that she and other lawmakers “want to make sure that any allegations have been cleared” and will demand “a very thorough vetting process.”
When the interviewer observed that Ernst appeared not to have “gotten to a yes” on the nomination and that Hegseth’s performance at nomination hearings would be critical, she responded, “I think you are right.”
Ernst, 54, a former Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who commanded troops in Iraq, met Hegseth at the Capitol Wednesday as he did the rounds to try to shore up his faltering chances, with Trump said to be considering replacing him with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The senator, a rape survivor, had told NBC News that Hegseth would make a “very strong” defense secretary before sexual misconduct allegations against the longtime Fox News host came to light. After that, Ernst said in an interview that she wanted to have a frank, face-to-face discussion with Hegseth and that she looked forward to having him vetted.
A recently-released police report revealed graphic details about a sexual encounter seven years ago that Hegseth said was consensual. The woman accused Hegseth of raping her in October 2017 at a Republican conference. The case was not prosecuted but the military veteran denies the allegation and paid the woman for her silence.
The New Yorker also reported that Hegseth was forced to depart leadership posts at two organizations — Concerned Veterans for America and Vets for Freedom — amid allegations of financial and personal missteps.
The magazine pointed out that a whistleblower report during Hegseth’s time leading Concerned Veterans for America “describes him as being repeatedly intoxicated while acting in his official capacity—to the point of needing to be carried out of the organization’s events.”
Hegseth on Thursday said he is “a different man than I was years ago.”
“That’s a redemption story that I think a lot of Americans appreciate and I know from fellow vets that I’ve spent time with, they resonate with that as well,” he said.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power” on Thursday evening, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said “there’s no question that if you have a problem with alcohol, it makes it very difficult for that individual to be able to be a leader particularly dealing with the strains of that position in a crisis moment. So that is something they’re going to have to really look at.”
Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has repeatedly opposed women in combat. That stance puts him at odds with Ernst, whose daughter serves in the Army.
Ernst sometimes criticized Trump, including in 2017 when she opposed a plan to ban transgender members of the military, but she has generally voted for his agenda and nominees.
--With assistance from Joe Mathieu and Magan Crane.
(Updates with Panetta, in 14th paragraph.)
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