Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s embattled choice for secretary of defense, vowed on Thursday to keep fighting to earn votes for his confirmation, calling himself a “redemption story” as he defiantly rejected the notion that he would step aside in the face of allegations of past misconduct.
“We’re going to earn those votes,” Mr. Hegseth told reporters on Capitol Hill as he emerged from a day of private meetings with Republican senators. “As long as Donald Trump wants me here in this fight, I’m going to be standing here in this fight.”
It is not clear how long that might be. Mr. Trump has been weighing jettisoning Mr. Hegseth in the face of allegations of public drunkenness, sexual assault and workplace sexual impropriety, and mismanagement when he ran veterans nonprofits.
Several Republican senators have withheld their support for him in recent days, saying the allegations were a concern or that they needed more information.
Asked about those charges on Thursday, Mr. Hegseth said he was a changed man.
“I’m a different man than I was years ago. That’s a redemption story that I think a lot of Americans appreciate,” he said.
But he quickly turned combative when pressed about the torrent of damaging accusations he is facing.
“I will answer all of these senators’ questions, but this will not be a process tried in the media,” he told reporters. “I don’t answer to anyone in this group.”
He also suggested that some of the allegations, detailed in a whistle-blower report about his tenure at the nonprofit Concerned Veterans for America, were fabricated by vengeful former colleagues.
“It’s very interesting what the press likes to dub a whistle-blower report, which some others might clarify as an email from a disgruntled employee,” he said.
Mr. Hegseth can afford to lose the support of no more than three Republicans, since Senate Democrats are all but guaranteed to oppose his confirmation as a bloc, and some Republican officials believe he has no chance of earning enough support for confirmation.
But Mr. Hegseth projected confidence on Thursday saying that he had had “a great week” discussing his candidacy and vision for the Pentagon with senators, “despite all the noise on the outside.”
On more than one occasion, he also expressed his gratitude to Mr. Trump, in a pitch that appeared aimed at dissuading the president-elect from dropping him.
“No more social justice, politically correct approaches to how we fight and conduct wars,” Mr. Hegseth said. “This is about lethality, meritocracy, readiness, warfighting and accountability, and I’m grateful that President Trump has bestowed this opportunity on me.”
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