Can Pete Hegseth's nomination survive?
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On to today's episode. I am here to tell the truth, to tell the truth to the American people and tell the truth to the senators on the Hill, especially our female senators. I really hope that you will not listen to the media and that you will listen to Pete.

Pete is Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Defense Department in his second administration. And the woman urging senators on the Hill, especially the female ones, to listen to Pete, that's his mother, Penelope Hegseth. And I want people to look at Pete, judge people, or understand him for who he is today, and to disregard the media that was seven years ago

And most of it is misinformation.

Peggy Sess' mother was talking to Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy about an email she wrote to her son accusing him of routinely mistreating women and displaying a lack of character. The email, which was written during Hegseth's 2018 divorce, was published this week by The New York Times. His mother says she wrote the email in haste during an emotional time, and she says today her relationship with Hegseth is solid. Peggy Sess' mother says she wrote the email in haste during an emotional time, and she says today her relationship with Hegseth is solid.

In fact, our whole family is very tight-knit. As Penelope Hegseth did damage control on Fox News, her son was doing the same with senators on Capitol Hill. And he told CBS News he still has the president-elect's support. I spoke to the president-elect this morning. He said, keep going, keep fighting. Numerous allegations have swirled around Trump's Pentagon pick since he was nominated. Hegseth.

Hegseth drank in ways that concerned his colleagues at Fox News. CBS News has learned GOP insiders pushed to remove him as the leader of a veterans group back in 2016 over allegations of financial mismanagement. Repeated in... From Mayer's reporting, quote, a previously undisclosed whistleblower report on Hegseth's tenure. But despite denials from Hegseth and Trump's transition team, some Republican senators are expressing concern.

Senator Lindsey Graham. Some of these articles are very disturbing. He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of this stuff is going to be difficult. Consider this. Pete Hegseth's nomination as Secretary of Defense hangs in the balance. Will he survive? From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. Support comes from our 2024 lead sponsor of Consider This, Anthropic.

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It's Consider This from NPR. At the time we published this episode, Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's pick to run the Pentagon, is struggling to hold on to his nomination. He faces an ever longer list of accusations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement.

The former Fox & Friends weekend host has spent Wednesday meeting with senators, doing interviews, trying to control the damage. Those are two of the things I talked about with NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh and NPR media correspondent David Fokkenflik.

David, you start because I know you have got some new reporting about Pete Hegseth. What have you learned? We are reporting today that a former Fox colleague of Pete Hegseth says that he got handsy repeatedly at incidents when he was inebriated and once even groping her bottom at a Manhattan bar. She asked NPR not to be identified for fear of retribution.

And when you put this to Pete Hagseff, what is he or his team saying in response? So I corresponded with his attorney, Timothy Parlatori, who says it's a false claim. This follows, obviously, among other things, a report in The New Yorker that talked about an incident in 2017 in California in which he was accused of sexual assault. He paid that off, although he is now denied bail.

That incident occurred. He said it was consensual. And there was a report last night from NBC that 10 current and former Fox colleagues alleged that he drank alcohol routinely at a concerning level. Paula Torrey, a HGCET attorney, told me that those claims have been thoroughly debunked, in his phrase, by a number of other Fox News employees, including a HGCET's former co-host, Will Kane, who have spoken out on the record using their names to dispute that characterization of HGCET.

Asked Fox about all this. It said that it had not received complaints about the accusation of the groping in the bar and also had no knowledge of the California incident or the settlement to keep that private. Drew, let me bring you in here, because what ultimately will matter is what the senators who will vote to confirm or not confirm Hegseth make of these reports, particularly Republican senators.

Right. I mean, these reports are definitely coming up in these individual meetings that Hegseth has been having. So far, no Republican senator has publicly said they will vote no on Hegseth's nominations. Some of Trump's top allies in the Senate, like Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, are waving off the allegations, saying they are just that, allegations. But we are hearing about these individual one-on-one meetings. A source familiar with the process tells our colleague Sue Davis that Hegseth is getting

quote,

The challenge really for Hegseth is a math one. Right now, he can only afford to lose three Republican votes, and there are more than four Republicans who say they want more information. They want to see an FBI background check. They want to see Hegseth answer some tough questions now in their meetings before there's a public hearing because they expect Democrats will aggressively question Hegseth, and they don't want any surprises. David, we heard just a moment ago Hegseth himself said

speaking out saying, I'm not going anywhere. And indeed, he does appear to be fighting to hang on to this nomination. How is he doing that? Well, in terms of media, there are two things worth noting. His mother, Penelope Hegseth, went on Fox and Friends, the weekday version, the show he used to host. The

place where he auditioned for the role to defend him. She spoke to the audience, but also directly to its most important viewer, Donald Trump himself. And then he went on the podcast show of former Fox colleague, Megan Kelly, an interesting choice. She once accused Fox, the late Roger Ailes, Fox's former chairman of sexually trying to sexually assault her.

And has spoken out on that issue. But she also has swung hard to be a voice that's supportive of Donald Trump and while posing some pretty tough questions to him, was also offering the warm embrace and pointing out how, in her words, unfair the media had been to him. Deirdre, you get last word just on this case again that Hegseth is going to have to make to senators who have to be convinced to confirm him.

Right. He's got work to do. The chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, sat down with Hegseth and told reporters Hegseth committed to not drink while serving as defense secretary as a response to all these reports about excessive drinking. You know, he has some allies, but he still has to make the case to some other Senate Republicans like Maine Republican Susan Collins, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski. If there are any other reports that come out with concerns about his capacity to lead the department,

Republicans I talk to say it's just going to make it that much harder. Beyond that, he has to keep Trump's support. Other outlets are reporting Trump may be looking at backups like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. NPR's Deirdre Walsh and David Fokkenflik. Thank you. Thank you. You bet. This episode was produced by Brianna Scott and Jordan Marie Smith. It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Kelsey Snell. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan.

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