D.C. Memo: Flagging Hegseth nomination gains some steam

WASHINGTON — The persistence of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled pick to run the Pentagon, seems to be paying off.

The Minnesota native made the rounds of GOP Senate offices for the third week in a persistent campaign to save his nomination for defense secretary. His candidacy has been battered by media reports of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and mismanagement of the finances of veteran organizations he once headed.

But Hegseth has not flagged in his efforts to secure enough support for confirmation. 

One key visit was with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who — while stopping short of promising to support Hegseth — sent strong signals that she was favorably inclined.

“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.

Other Republican senators also dropped some of their concerns about Hegseth, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in his hotel room during a California Federation of Republican Women convention in October 2017. Hegseth has denied this — and all other — allegations.

The change of heart among some GOP senators this week followed Trump’s public endorsement of the candidate last Friday. That touched off a social media-fueled effort to target wavering Republican senators — especially Ernst, who was trolled as a RINO (Republican In Name Only) and subjected to false stories about her divorce.

“Bongino Army, I need you,” right-wing Trump podcaster Dan Bongino posted on X. “I’m only one man. You, however, number in the millions. We need to send a strong, direct, unequivocal message to @SenJoniErnst that her efforts to sabotage Pete Hegseth are a redline. We are ALL watching. And we will NOT forget.”

Predictive betting website Polymarket (which accurately predicted Trump would win the presidential election) on Wednesday put Hegseth’s odds of being confirmed at 71%, a surge from a low point of 11% on Dec. 4. 

Those low betting odds were a result of a devastating New Yorker story about Hegseth’s alleged behavior as the head of two Koch-funded veteran organizations and reports that Trump was considering Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a replacement for Hegseth as his choice for secretary of defense.

On Wednesday, Polymarket predicted DeSantis had only a 16% chance of winning that job.

No red wave

While Donald Trump decisively won the electoral college, he only won a  narrow plurality of the popular vote — 49.81% to Kamala Harris’ 48.33%.

In addition, Republican wins in Congress were limited. 

While the GOP wrested control of the Senate from Democrats, the 53 seats in that chamber they will hold in the next Congress is fewer than many political analysts predicted and fewer than the 60 needed to break a filibuster.

Meanwhile in the House, the GOP kept its majority, barely. There will be 220 GOP seats and 215 Democratic seats when the 119^th Congress is gaveled in on Jan. 3, but two GOP lawmakers will resign their seats to be  confirmed to jobs in the Trump administration (New York’s Elise Stefanik and Florida’s Michael Waltz) while a third, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, has said he will not serve although he was reelected.

So, the breakdown in the House would fall to 217-215 until special elections are held to fill those GOP vacancies, posing a problem for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in his early attempts to win approval for an ambitious “first 100-days” agenda.

That narrow margin will also be a challenge to Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6^th District, who as GOP whip is tasked with rounding up votes for that agenda.

David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report said this week that the House majority was decided by just 7,309 votes across three districts — one each in Iowa, Colorado and Pennsylvania — out of 148 million votes cast for House candidates nationwide.

“The Republicans are overstating their election victory,” said lobbyist and former Minnesota GOP congressman Vin Weber at a University of Minnesota panel on Trump’s nominees.

You can’t fire me — I quit 

FBI Director Christopher Wray’s announcement this week that he would resign at the end of Joe Biden’s presidency was expected, but still created discord.

Seven years into a 10-year term, Wray resigned before President-elect Donald Trump, who wants to replace the FBI director with Kash Patel, could fire him.

A 10-year term for FBI directors was established to insulate the law enforcement agency from political influence from the occupant of the White House and a mid-term resignation is rare. But Trump, who replaced former FBI director James Comey with Wray, has long accused Wray’s FBI of unfairly targeting him.

“Under the leadership of Christopher Wray, the FBI illegally raided my home, without cause, worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicted me, and has done everything else to interfere with the success and future of America,” Trump said in a statement that celebrated the resignation.

Wray announced his plans at a town hall with the FBI employees Wednesday afternoon.

“In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the Bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work,” he told his colleagues.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will hold a hearing on Patel’s confirmation, said Wray had “dedicated his life to law enforcement” and stressed his bipartisan support, something that may elude Patel.  

“The motto of the FBI is ‘Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity’ and those words perfectly describe Christopher Wray,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “Appointed by President Trump to lead the FBI and overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate, he has earned the support and respect of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.”

ICYMI:

• Ava Kian and I wrote about Donald Trump’s pledge to reverse a moratorium on mining in Superior National Forest near the famed Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
• Amelia Roessler reported on how Gen Z uses social media to stay informed – and sometimes misinformed – and how this phenomena played out in the elections.
• Peter Callaghan had a story about a decision by the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management to cancel the special license lottery for social equity applicants and instead move toward a lottery next year for both social equity and general applicants.

Your questions and comments

A reader wrote about former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman’s recent role as Pete Hegseth’s “sherpa” – his guide to key Senate offices in the last few weeks.

“I was surprised to learn that Norm Coleman was back in business on Capitol Hill,” the reader said. “You may or may not be aware of his DFL credentials in Minnesota before switching to the Republican party in Minnesota to avoid competition with Skip Humphrey for party endorsements in the 1980s. So much for one’s deeply held beliefs.” 

Another reader also commented about Hegseth’s nomination for secretary of defense.

“The sleaze factor is off the charts,” the reader said. “I came of age during Kent State and Watergate, but I’ve never been more chagrined to be an American.”

Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond.

Ana Radelat

Ana Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can reach her at aradelat@minnpost.com or follow her on Twitter at @radelat.

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