President-elect Donald Trump’s choose for protection secretary Pete Hegseth met on Wednesday with one other average Republican whose vote can be carefully watched in his affirmation battle.
Hegseth sat down with Maine Sen. Susan Collins as he continues to make the rounds to shore up assist amid allegations of sexual impropriety and different misconduct, which he denies.
Afterward, he described it as a “nice assembly.”
“Workplace after workplace, having the chance to spend time with these senators who’ve invested their careers in guaranteeing that our warfighters get what they want, has been superb instructional course of,” Hegseth mentioned. “And Senator Collins, like her colleagues earlier than her reiterated that.
“It was an exquisite dialog targeted on what must be carried out to verify this Pentagon is concentrated on warfighting and lethality, and we stay up for keep in contact together with her,” he added.
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s option to be protection secretary, reveals a U.S. flag lining on the within of his swimsuit coat as he arrives for a gathering with Sen. Invoice Cassidy on Capitol Hill, Dec. 11, 2024, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Hegseth added he was “actually not going to imagine something about the place the senator stands” as he was peppered with questions by reporters.
Collins known as it a “good, substantive dialogue” for greater than an hour on all the things from girls’s function within the navy and sexual assault within the navy to Ukraine and NATO.
“I requested just about each query underneath the solar,” Collins mentioned. “I pressed him on each his place on navy points in addition to the allegations in opposition to him.”
Collins didn’t voice assist for Hegseth, as a substitute saying she’d wait till additional vetting of Hegseth earlier than deciding easy methods to vote.
“I, clearly, all the time wait till we’ve an FBI background examine, and one is underway within the case of Mr. Hegseth, and I wait to see the committee listening to earlier than reaching a last resolution,” she mentioned.
Their assembly got here on the heels of his assembly on Tuesday with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who’s considered as one other attainable GOP swing vote. Murkowski mentioned they’d a “good trade” however didn’t point out whether or not she’d been swayed to assist him.
Pete Hegseth President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Protection, walks together with his spouse Jennifer Rauchet to meets with Republican Senator from Maine Susan Collins on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 11, 2024.
Shawn Thew/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Hegseth is one among many Trump administration picks who’ve been on Capitol Hill this week.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, tapped to steer the Division of Homeland Safety, met with varied Republican senators on Tuesday.
When departing a gathering with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Noem was requested if she’d assist Trump’s plan for mass deportations of migrants residing within the U.S. with out authorized permission. Deportations have been a central promise of Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign.
“I’m going to implement the president’s agenda,” Noem responded.
Noem additionally left the door open for a cope with Democrats to guard “Dreamers,” or migrants introduced illegally to the U.S. as younger kids. Trump floated the concept throughout an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” regardless of his makes an attempt to undermine the Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals program throughout his first administration.
“You realize, I admire the president’s phrase on this difficulty, and I do know he needs our legal guidelines to be adopted, so I am going to work with him to get his imaginative and prescient completed,” Noem mentioned.
Noem was again for conferences on Wednesday, together with one with Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. Noem mentioned she hoped for bipartisan assist in her affirmation bid.
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Homeland Safety Secretary South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem arrives for a gathering with Sen. Kevin Cramer on Capitol Hill, Dec. 10, 2024, in Washington.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Photos
Kash Patel, Trump’s choose for FBI director, and Tulsi Gabbard, his selection for director of nationwide intelligence, have additionally been noticed strolling the halls of the Hart Senate Workplace Constructing.
For Patel to fill the function, present FBI Director Christopher Wray would wish to resign or be fired.
A number of Republican senators expressed this week they’d be positive with Wray being compelled out or stepping apart.
“I like Director Wray however I feel it is time for a contemporary begin on the FBI,” mentioned Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“Clearly, Director Wray could be fired. That’s apparent,” mentioned Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
