Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said she had privately questioned Pete Hegseth on both policy issues and the misconduct allegations against him but would not decide whether to back President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon until after a thorough vetting.
“I pressed him on both his position on military issues as well as the allegations against him,” Ms. Collins told reporters after a private meeting with Mr. Hegseth that lasted well over an hour. “I don’t think there was anything that we did not cover.”
She said she would not be coming to a decision about Mr. Hegseth’s bid to lead the Pentagon until after an F.B.I. background check on him was complete and he had undergone a confirmation hearing, which the Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to hold in January.
Ms. Collins, who will chair the powerful Appropriations Committee in the next Congress, is one of the few Republican senators to voice concerns publicly about Mr. Hegseth after reports that detailed allegations of sexual assault and harassment of women in the workplace, public drunkenness and fiscal mismanagement.
She said she also used her time with Mr. Hegseth to press him on policy matters, including defense procurement reforms, the role of women in the military, sexual assault in the military, Ukraine and NATO.
Ms. Collins characterized the session as a “good, substantive discussion.”
But it was clear that Mr. Hegseth had not yet won her support. Afterward, he told reporters that he had no idea how Ms. Collins would eventually come down on his nomination.
“I am not going to assume anything about where the senator stands,” he told reporters, adding: “I hope, in time, when we get through that committee and to the floor, that we can earn her support.”
Mr. Hegseth, who is likely to need the votes of all but three Republicans to be confirmed, has been working this week to win over potential skeptics like Ms. Collins. On Tuesday, he met with Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, who is also considered a potential holdout. Like Ms. Collins, Ms. Murkowski declined to endorse Mr. Hegseth afterward, saying they “had a good exchange, and we’ll see what the process bears.”
He had better luck with Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, who after initially sounding hostile to his bid and pointedly declining to support him after their first meeting came out on Monday signaling a more positive view.
Ms. Ernst, who had come under withering political pressure from Mr. Trump’s MAGA allies to fall in line, said after a second meeting with Mr. Hegseth on Monday that she would “support Pete through this process,” and looked forward to “a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.”
Several of Mr. Hegseth’s supporters have said that the allegations against him should not be taken seriously so long as his accusers refused to come out publicly with their allegations.
Mr. Hegseth is also expected to meet on Wednesday afternoon with Senator Todd Young, Republican of Indiana, who has also not indicated a position on his bid.
Following his meeting with Ms. Collins, Mr. Hegseth said that he was grateful for the time she and other senators had devoted to speaking with him about his bid, calling it “an amazingly educational process.”
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