New Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly told President-elect Donald Trump that he feels Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, will have enough votes to be confirmed, according to a report.
“Three sources” told CBS News that Thune had told Trump in private that “he believes” Hegseth “will have the votes to be confirmed as Secretary of Defense.”
However, a spokesman for Thune told the outlet that there are “two things” that are not talked about publicly: “Whip counts and private conversations with the president.”
Scoop: Senate Majority Leader John Thune has privately told Trump that he believes Pete Hegseth will have the votes to be confirmed as secretary of defense, per sources. @alanhe @NikolenDC and me:https://t.co/SVrL4MbfOr
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 5, 2025
Since Trump announced he was nominating Hegseth to serve as Secretary of Defense, Hegseth has faced several smear campaigns launched against him.
As Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong previously reported, one of the smears launched against him was regarding claims that his “tattoos were linked to white supremacy” when the tattoos are “related to his Christian faith, and not white supremacy.” Another smear centered around “a report on 2017 allegations from a woman” who claimed Hegseth had “raped her.”
Another smear launched against Hegseth came after the New York Times “published an angry email” that Hegseth’s mom sent him, accusing him “of mistreating women.” Hegseth’s mother later apologized for what she had written. Another smear “centered on accusations from a decade ago when fired co-workers at Concerned Veterans for America created a document complaining about the leadership,” and claimed that Hegseth “drank too much at holiday parties and after-work events.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, previously told CNN that Hegseth’s confirmation hearing has been scheduled for January 14.
