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Hegseth says his goal for the Defense Department is 'lethality, lethality, lethality'
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Hegseth praised members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which performs oversight of the department Hegseth hopes to lead, calling them "passionate."
He added that he hopes to lead the Defense Department and "make sure we’re putting the warfighters first," adding, "That’s what Donald Trump asked me to do."
The former Fox News host added that the focus of the Department of Defense must be "lethality, lethality, lethality" and that "everything else is gone," characterizing those words as the goal of Trump and the Republican members of the Armed Services Committee.
Hegseth also called the advise and consent process "brilliant" and added, "it's been edifying."
Hegseth did not take questions from reporters about the personal issues — like the sexual assault allegations against him or the allegations that he misused alcohol at work — during the brief gaggle, but pointed them to his interview earlier today with Megyn Kelly. He has denied all wrongdoing.
"As far as everything else, I had a chance to sit down with Megyn Kelly for an hour," Hegseth said. "She asked probably all the questions you guys have.”
Pete Hegseth’s mother defends her son as a ‘changed man’
The mother of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, pleaded her son’s case Wednesday as his future nomination appeared to be in jeopardy in the Senate over allegations involving drinking and sexual assault.
In an interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” Penelope Hegseth addressed an email that she wrote to her son in 2018, whose details were published by The New York Times last week, that accused him of mistreating women for years.
“I wrote that in haste. I wrote that with deep emotions. I wrote that as a parent,” she told the network, explaining that it was during a time when Pete Hegseth was “going through a very difficult divorce.”
Trump picks Peter Navarro, who went to prison for defying Jan. 6 committee subpoena, as top trade adviser
Trump announced Wednesday that Peter Navarro will serve as “Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing” in his next White House term.
Navarro, 75, will be tasked with helping to “successfully advance and communicate the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff, and Trade Agendas,” Trump wrote in a pair of Truth Social posts revealing the pick.
Navarro was previously a top trade aide for Trump during his first term.
The selection came less than five months after Navarro’s release from prison.
Trump says he pulled DEA pick 'because I did not like what he said to my pastors'
Trump’s pick for DEA administrator, Chad Chronister, posted on X that he was withdrawing his name for consideration.
Trump took to Truth Social today to blast a headline from The Wall Street Journal saying that Chronister didn’t pull out, that Trump had pulled him out because he did “not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters.”
Per NBC reporting, Chronister was criticized for his handling of the pandemic — particularly his decision in 2020 to arrest Ronald Howard-Browne, a Tampa-area pastor, for the decision to flout pandemic-era lockdown orders. The charges were ultimately dropped.
‘Why would I back down?’: Hegseth says Trump told him to keep fighting
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled pick for Defense secretary, brushed aside suggestions that he would drop out and said he spoke to Trump, who urged him to “keep going, keep fighting.”
“I spoke to the president-elect this morning. He said, ‘Keep going, keep fighting. I’m behind you all the way.’” Hegseth told CBS News in the Capitol Wednesday. “Why would I back down? I’ve always been a fighter. I’m here for the fighters. This is personal and passionate for me.”
Trump considers replacing Pete Hegseth with Ron DeSantis
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President-elect Donald Trump is considering replacing embattled defense secretary choice Pete Hegseth with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to two sources familiar with the decision-making.
DeSantis is “very much in contention,” one source said.
Another told NBC News that Trump and DeSantis directly spoke about the issue.
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