Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Pentagon, celebrated a “great meeting” with Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) Monday that gave new life to his hope of confirmation in Congress’ upper chamber.
Trump World operatives apparently had an even bigger reason to exhale.
According to a report in Politico, the president-elect’s team thought if Hegseth’s bid was “sacrificed” to Ernst, it would cause a domino effect in the Republican ranks that could jeopardize the prospects of other controversial nominees, including Kash Patel, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard.
Ernst, who last week raised questions about a sexual assault allegation against Hegseth and his views on women in the military, left their Monday meeting signaling openness to his nomination, calling their meeting “encouraging.”
Hegseth denies the sexual assault allegation and says the incident was consensual.
“As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources,” Ernst said, in a statement.
One Trump insider told Politico that the president-elect’s allies believed they had to “draw a red line here” with the Hegseth nomination to get GOP senators in line.
One tool they used was outside pressure from Trump’s devoted online MAGA faithful—key allies including Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump Jr. criticized Ernst online, upping the pressure on her.
The top law enforcement official in Ernst’s state, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, also wrote an op-ed, which called on senators to back Trump’s nominees.
The piece was heavily promoted by the Republican National Committee press team, which Politico reported some Republicans saw as a primary threat against Ernst.
“Joni, I’m told, got the message loud and clear,” a Trump ally close to the transition team told Politico.
Chief among those who intervened on Capitol Hill to help salvage Hegseth’s bid—which was also doubted by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) before he changed his tune last week—was Vice President-elect and Senator JD Vance (R-OH), who met with colleagues last week to shore up support.
“[Vance] saw the game that was being played where these senators believed themselves to be more powerful than they are,” the first Trump insider told Politico.
Trump himself was also pleased with Hegseth in the last week, the outlet said, citing multiple sources.
Namely, the president-elect appreciated his defiance in the face of media reports which revealed allegations he mismanaged two veterans groups, overseeing toxic and sexist workplace allegations. He has denied the claims.
Patel, Kennedy and Gabbard will no doubt hope that, beyond Ernst, the rest of the Republican caucus got the message.
