Trump doubles down on Pete Hegseth nomination for defense secretary

President-elect Donald Trump firmly threw his full support behind Pete Hegseth on Friday, making clear he is still his pick to “be a fantastic, high-energy Secretary of Defense.”

“Pete Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, denying reports he was reconsidering his pick.

“He was a great student – Princeton/Harvard educated – with a Military state of mind. He will be a fantastic, high-energy, Secretary of Defense” he wrote, saying the Fox News host will be “one who leads with charisma and skill.

“Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!”

Trump firmly threw his full support behind Pete Hegseth. Getty Images

The 44-year-old Army combat vet made the rounds on Capitol Hill this week to drum up support for his confirmation amid an onslaught of allegations about his past alcohol abuse, sexual impropriety and financial mismanagement.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who is an Army veteran and victim of sexual assault herself, revealed Thursday that she hadn’t agreed to vote “yes” on Hegseth’s confirmation yet and looked forward to “a very thorough vetting process.”

Ernst’s non-committal statement followed several others from Senate Republicans — including South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, who called the allegations against Hegseth “concerning.”

GOP sources, however, told The Post that behind closed doors “zero” senators were opposed to the nominee — but just four “no” votes could torpedo the former Fox News personality’s confirmation in the upper chamber.

“I had a call with the president-elect this morning. He said, ‘Keep going, keep fighting,’” Hegseth told reporters on Wednesday amid meetings with soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and others.

A scathing story published Sunday in the New Yorker detailed the lurid accusations from whistleblowers and other anonymous ex-staffers at Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America between 2007 and 2016.

While serving as president of CVA, Hegseth was reportedly “totally sloshed” on the job and allegedly fostered a hostile work environment for female staff — allegedly bringing colleagues to a Louisiana strip club and having to be dragged off stage after trying to join in with the dancers.

Former senior advisers who worked with the Army vet like Sean Parnell immediately denounced the anonymous accusers for peddling the “insane” and utterly “false” stories about his tenure.

“If you read that article, I mean, I think you come away thinking that CVA was some sort of slush fund for parties or something — and nothing could be further from the truth,” said Parnell, who worked under Hegseth from 2013 to 2016.

“There were no strip clubs involved that I can recall,” he added of the allegations that Hegseth misbehaved on a trip with staff to the Pelican State in 2014. “Sometimes the staff — after the events were over — we would go out and have a drink. But it was never some crazy, insane thing like that article.”

Per a January 2016 email sent to incoming CVA president Jae Pak from a staffer, Hegseth was “forced out” because he had purportedly “treated the organization funds like they were a personal expense account — for partying, drinking, and using CVA events as little more than opportunities to ‘hook up’ with women on the road.”

The president-elect said Hegseth is “doing very well.” Getty Images

But The Post obtained a letter from former CVA trustee Randy Lair written that same month showing Trump’s future Pentagon pick had in fact “voluntarily resigned” over a disagreement with the nonprofit’s donor base on foreign policy.

Penelope Hegseth also slammed her son as an “abuser of women” in a 2018 email during the dissolution of his second marriage, the New York Times reported last week.

Both he and his mom hit the media circuit to denounce the reports as baseless smears, with Penelope Hegseth calling the Times “despicable” for disclosing a private email she wrote in the heat of the moment — but sent a follow-up apology that was never leaked.

“I want people to look at Pete and understand him for who he is today. And to disregard the media — that was seven years ago — and most of that was misinformation,” Penelope Hegseth said Wednesday on “Fox and Friends.”

“He loves this country. He’s fought and almost died for this country. He’s a good dad. He’s an amazing son and father and that’s the Pete I want people to know,” she went on.
“I want to say one more thing, I believe he’s the man for the job, but more than that, I believe he’s the man for such a time as this,” she added.

For his part, Hegseth compared his plight to that of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation was nearly derailed by sex assault allegations in 2018.

“Do you think you’re being Kavanaugh’ed right now?” podcast queen Megyn Kelly asked him in a Wednesday interview.

“I had a member, not 45 minutes ago, look me in the eye in private, just he and I and say, ‘That’s what they’re trying to do to you,’” Hegseth responded, quoting the member. “‘That’s their playbook. Get ready for more.’”

“You’re a threat to them, you’re a threat to their system,” he said the lawmaker added.

“Kavanaugh stood up and he won,” Hegseth recalled. “And hopefully Republicans have learned that lesson. And Trump stood by him.”

Despite the show of support from the once and future president and most of the Senate GOP, other defense secretary options have been floated.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is at least one viable replacement candidate that Trump, 78, is considering should Hegseth bow out of the process, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.