WASHINGTON –
The nomination of Pete Hegseth, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Pentagon, is under pressure as senators who would need to confirm him weigh a series of allegations that have surfaced against him.
Hegseth’s mother appeared on Fox News on Wednesday to defend her son, who faces multiple allegations that have emerged in the media about alcohol intoxication at work events, sexual misconduct and potential financial mismanagement.
The Trump transition team was growing concerned about Hegseth’s path to confirmation and was actively looking at potential replacements, a person familiar with the matter said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who competed against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, is being discussed as a possible replacement if Hegseth’s nomination does not move forward, according to three other people familiar with the matter. They were not authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump and DeSantis appeared together on Tuesday at a ceremony in West Palm Beach, Fla., to honour three fallen sheriff’s deputies.
The Trump transition team didn’t immediately comment.
Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth joined the “Fox & Friends” to discuss her son and a 2018 email she wrote him that was obtained by The New York Times, in which she confronted him about mistreating women after he impregnated his current wife while he was married to his second wife.
That letter followed multiple allegations, reported by the New Yorker this week, of questionable conduct around female staffers. Hegseth also was accused of sexual assault in 2017, which Hegseth told California police at the time was consensual encounter and has denied any wrongdoing.
Hegseth is a former Fox News host and a former U.S. Army National Guard major and combat veteran who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. If confirmed by the Senate, he would lead a two million member strong military — more than 17 per cent of whom are female. The revelations have concerned some members of Congress.
“I would do anything for my son,” Penelope Hegseth said in the TV interview.
She spoke directly to Trump in the segment, saying her son “is not that man he was seven years ago.” She said she wrote the email because Hegseth and his then-wife were going through a very difficult divorce and “it was a very emotional time.”
She said she retracted the email and apologized to her son about two hours after sending the email.