Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arrives to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Dec, 5, 2024 in Washington, DC
(JNS) — After the Senate voted 51-49 along party lines on Thursday to advance Pete Hegseth as U.S. secretary of defense, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters he was “very surprised” that Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted against the nominee. A final vote is expected on Friday, the Associated Press reported.
The former Fox News personality and Bronze Star veteran appears set to be confirmed, but his nomination previously seemed greatly imperiled. That was until Norm Coleman stepped in, the national chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition told JNS.
A former Minnesota senator, Coleman was selected as an experienced political hand, who knows Washington well, to walk Hegseth through the Senate approval process. Both the veteran and the RJC leader have North Star State ties, as Hegseth was born in Minneapolis.
The RJC has also hosted Hegseth on several occasions to speak at events as leader of the Republican-backed advocate group Vets for Freedom, according to Matt Brooks, CEO of the RJC.
A surprise choice for the top Pentagon role, Hegseth was put immediately under the microscope, and allegations — which he denied vehemently — emerged of sexual assault and misconduct, excessive drinking and financial mismanagement at the two veterans organizations he led. (Hegseth has said that his drinking has been under control since he embraced religion.)
Some critics have also said that Hegseth lacks the management experience to run an entity like the Defense Department, which employs more than 3 million people and has a budget of more than $800 billion.
Reports emerged that Trump, then president-elect, was considering dropping Hegseth after key Republican senators, including several loyalists, refused to back the nominee. Some reports said Trump was thinking of offering the role to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. After former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration for attorney general due to allegations of sexual misconduct, some analysts predicted that Hegseth wasn’t far behind.
After a day on the Hill on Dec. 5 trying to assuage the concerns of senators — and Trump telling the nominee that he had his back — Hegseth was walking down a hallway in the U.S. Capitol when he delivered a fiery message to reporters there. Coleman told JNS that it was his idea, over objections from Hegseth’s team, to talk to the press.
Hegseth’s team said, “You can’t say anything. You can’t,” Coleman told JNS. “I pulled him aside at one point, and I said, ‘Pete, you’ve got to let people see your heart and let them know you want this and you’re going to fight for this.’”
“He went out there and did that,” Coleman told JNS.
JNS asked if that was a turning point in Hegseth’s nomination process. Coleman laughed and asked JNS to repeat the phrase “turning point” to Brooks, who was standing beside him.
“I agree it was a turning point,” Coleman told JNS. “That was my one contribution.”
With Coleman looking over his left shoulder on Dec. 5, Hegseth told the press, “I’m proud to be here.”
“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 added at the time, telling the reporters that he answers only to Trump, God, his family and the 100 senators voting on his confirmation — not the press.
“You counsel people to show their heart,” Coleman told JNS. “You don’t have to get angry, never to get mad, never to police them. Approach them with love, and he showed his heart.”
Coleman referred to Hegseth as someone who “can process a lot of information, and he’s a great communicator.”
“A combination of having the ability to communicate and having a clear vision of what you need to do and what you can do — like I always tell my son, ‘Know what you don’t know,’” he told JNS. “It’s a really important quality, and if people can do that, it’s a good thing.”
The Dec. 5 confrontation marked Hegseth’s first stern, direct pushback against the controversies surrounding him. His nomination chances appeared to take an upward trajectory from there.
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved Hegseth on a 14-13 party-line vote on Jan. 20. The Senate voted on Thursday to advance his nomination.
Senate Republicans are moving forward despite a last-minute affidavit from Hegseth’s former sister-in-law, obtained by Senate Democrats. The former in-law accused the nominee of abusing his ex-wife, Samantha Hegseth, although the latter denies any physical abuse in the marriage.
