President-elect Donald J. Trump gave a public show of support to his embattled choice for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, on Friday morning, saying in a social media post that he will be “fantastic” in the job and that he has a “military state of mind.”
Mr. Hegseth has spent the last two days fighting to stay as Mr. Trump’s choice to lead the Pentagon amid mounting news reports alleging troubling behaviors over time including rape, sexual assault, financial mismanagement and drunken behavior, which he denies.
Mr. Trump’s post on Truth Social amounted to a public dare to Republican senators, a number of whom have expressed private concerns about Mr. Hegseth, to vote against his wishes. The president-elect until now has put relatively little of his own capital on the line for Mr. Hegseth and has even floated alternative candidates, such as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, for the job.
But on Friday, Mr. Trump doubled down publicly on his initial choice.
“Pete Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe,” Mr. Trump wrote. “He was a great student — Princeton/Harvard educated — with a Military state of mind. He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense Defense, one who leads with charisma and skill. Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!”
A string of damning news articles have reported problematic behavior. One woman filed a police report in 2017 accusing him of rape, which he denied and said was a consensual encounter. He entered into a settlement agreement with her that included a payment of money years later. The New York Times reported that Mr. Hegseth’s mother sent him an email in 2018 during a contentious divorce saying he had “abused” many women in different ways over the years. NBC News reported about concerns about Mr. Hegseth’s drinking, and The New Yorker reported that he had been accused of mismanagement of groups he had previously led.
Mr. Hegseth described it as a smear campaign, as both he and his mother gave interviews that were clearly intended to impact Mr. Trump’s thinking. Mr. Hegseth has met with a number of senators to press his own case. And people close to Mr. Trump, such as the influencer Charlie Kirk, publicly threatened primary challenges to senators who did not back Mr. Hegseth. Several allies of Mr. Trump privately — and Mr. Hegseth publicly in his interview with Megyn Kelly — sought to compare the circumstances of the allegations against Mr. Hegseth to allegations brought against Justice Brett Kavanaugh as he was going through the confirmation process for the U.S. Supreme Court when Mr. Trump chose him in 2018.
The incoming president has privately complained to people that Mr. Hegseth hadn’t been more forthcoming with him and discussed with Mr. DeSantis the idea of taking the role when they saw each other at a memorial service in Florida earlier this week.
But by Thursday night, it was clear that Mr. Hegseth’s prospects with the senators had improved.
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