Trump hesitates to personally lobby for endangered Cabinet picks
Posted on 12/07/2024
President-elect Donald Trump, a lifelong teetotaler whose brother struggled with alcoholism and died at 42, was shaken by reports about a history of heavy drinking by his choice to lead the Pentagon, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth.
Trump’s response was to encourage Hegseth, who has said he has never had a drinking problem, to fight for his job. Trump instructed aides to defend Hegseth, activating his campaign’s rapid-response apparatus and encouraging surrogates to publicly show support. Allies have threatened primary challenges for senators who oppose his picks, and a group funded by billionaire Elon Musk released an ad pressuring senators to back Hegseth.
“Pete is doing well now,” Trump said in a prerecorded clip of an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that’s due to air Sunday morning. “People were a little bit concerned. ... He loves the military, and I think people are starting to see it.”
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But Trump has held back on pushing hard himself, according to advisers who, like many of the more than a dozen figures interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to relate private conversations. He hasn’t aggressively lobbied senators on Hegseth, according to Capitol Hill lawmakers and their aides. And he has hedged by discussing a backup plan with his former archrival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — often the first sign that he is souring on someone.
Before the “Meet the Press” interview, Trump’s public statements of support for Hegseth this week were limited to promoting a weeks-old New York Post article that praised Hegseth and a Friday post calling him a winner who is doing well.
“It’s clear the president has chosen not to express out loud his every thought, which is a good thing,” Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana) said, when asked how Trump’s quieter approach to advocating for his Cabinet picks compared with 2017. “I think he’s learned that, as president, you don’t have to always say it. And I think that’s a good thing. Obviously, his picks have been less traditional, and we’ll see how it turns out.”
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Trump’s more hands-off posture could insulate him from the fallout if Hegseth withdraws or the Senate refuses to confirm him. Trump has said that he made the decision to withdraw his choice to run the Drug Enforcement Administration, Chad Chronister, and has distanced himself from former congressman Matt Gaetz’s choice to step aside last month as his pick for attorney general. But some of the president-elect’s allies are concerned about the potential political cost of losing multiple confirmation fights.
“If Hegseth gets pulled, it will weaken Trump’s standing with Senate Republicans and only embolden anti-Trump Republican senators to try to tank his other nominees that they don’t like,” said one Trump ally. “It will be a feeding frenzy.”
Other aides downplayed the impact of personnel changes before the inauguration, saying the defeats become more painful if Trump’s picks withdraw from consideration or fail to win confirmation after public hearings. Trump tamped down the consequences of Gaetz’s withdrawal by quickly nominating former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi in his place, they argued. Trump called multiple senators on Gaetz’s behalf, a person involved in the transition said. Gaetz made the final decision to withdraw, the person said.
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Still, aides acknowledged wanting to prevent any further damage.
“It’s smashmouth football at this point,” an adviser said. “We’re doing everything we can do to defend Pete. We’re doing everything we can do to let everyone know he has an exceptional background and the experience to do this job. We’re doing everything we can to make sure we’re fighting tooth and nail to push back on all the stories and all the negativity.”
Trump has tapped communications adviser Jason Miller to help with the confirmation process for all nominees. And he has vented on social media about media coverage of the withdrawals, objecting to any suggestion that his standing has slipped.
“What’s my ‘latest’ setback???” he wrote Wednesday on Truth Social, referring to a Wall Street Journal headline about Chronister’s withdrawal from consideration for the DEA post. “I just won the Presidency of the United States!”
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Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the president-elect remains behind Hegseth to lead the Pentagon.
“Those who are peddling these outrageous and slanderous lies prove they are willing to sell themselves out in a despicable effort to smear an honorable man’s name,” Cheung said. “America looks forward to Mr. Hegseth serving his country once again as Secretary of Defense.”
Vice President-elect JD Vance reposted Trump’s Friday message in support of Hegseth, adding, “We’ve got his back.”
Hegseth’s imperiled Pentagon nomination was expected to be a topic of conversation on Trump’s overnight flight Friday to Paris, where he plans to attend the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral this weekend. Several people close to Trump strongly dislike DeSantis and are working to prevent him from getting tapped if Hegseth gets pulled, according to two people familiar with the situation.
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Senate Republicans have shown little appetite to publicly challenge Trump’s choices or brag about their power to influence the composition of his Cabinet, instead hoping some of Trump’s most controversial picks would withdraw from consideration instead of forcing uncomfortable votes.
“People think this is an adversarial relationship between the White House and the Senate and it’s not,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), who has not committed to support Hegseth but who said a meeting the two held Thursday was encouraging. “It’s a matter of trying to build a team and do it correctly under the constitutional restraints that we have, which is to provide advice and consent. We want the president to be successful; we give the president the benefit of the doubt in building his team, but we also want to ask the questions that the public would ask.”
The number of unconventional picks — including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Kash Patel for FBI director and Kristi L. Noem for homeland security secretary — poses a conundrum for senators who might be willing to break with Trump once but not repeatedly.
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“These are all aggressive picks,” a Republican close to Trump said. “When you’re swinging for the fences, you’re going to lose some.”
Senators and Trump allies acknowledged that Trump’s decision to name so many Cabinet picks so quickly and to skip traditional vetting contributed to the problems that some of his choices have faced. Some lawmakers expressed relief that the transition team reached an agreement with the Justice Department on Tuesday to allow FBI background checks and that Hegseth said Thursday he would submit to one.
“He’s been really quick, and I guess there’s a balance between doing it quick and taking the time to vet the nominees so you don’t get surprises,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of Trump.
Trump was generally aware of Gaetz’s well-publicized scandals, including a federal sex-trafficking investigation that resulted in no charges, but not that a House ethics report on sex and drug allegations had been set to be released days after his announcement. After Trump’s pick was announced, Gaetz resigned from the House, removing himself from the Ethics Committee’s jurisdiction and making the release of the report much less likely. The Hegseth revelations were more unsettling, several transition aides said, because the Trump team wasn’t expecting them.
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The team also wasn’t prepared for right-wing opposition to Chronister, Trump’s choice for the DEA. Chronister, sheriff of Hillsborough County in Florida, faced attacks for participating in a Pride parade in March (as is common for local officials in cities like Tampa) and enforcing pandemic restrictions against a pastor. Chronister said he withdrew, but Trump then said he told Chronister to withdraw, because “I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters.”
This week, Trump also changed his choice of White House counsel from William McGinley, whom he had announced on Nov. 12, to campaign lawyer David Warrington. Trump said that McGinley would instead work for the task force on government spending led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, known as DOGE.
In Trump’s first term, his nominee for labor secretary, fast food CEO Andrew Puzder, withdrew from consideration in February 2017 in the face of Republican reservations about abuse accusations from his ex-wife and the fact that he employed an undocumented housekeeper. Days earlier, Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had resigned after misleading investigators about contacts with Russia’s ambassador.
Jacqueline Alemany, Michael Scherer and Dan Balz contributed to this report.
Trump’s response was to encourage Hegseth, who has said he has never had a drinking problem, to fight for his job. Trump instructed aides to defend Hegseth, activating his campaign’s rapid-response apparatus and encouraging surrogates to publicly show support. Allies have threatened primary challenges for senators who oppose his picks, and a group funded by billionaire Elon Musk released an ad pressuring senators to back Hegseth.
“Pete is doing well now,” Trump said in a prerecorded clip of an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that’s due to air Sunday morning. “People were a little bit concerned. ... He loves the military, and I think people are starting to see it.”
Advertisement
But Trump has held back on pushing hard himself, according to advisers who, like many of the more than a dozen figures interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to relate private conversations. He hasn’t aggressively lobbied senators on Hegseth, according to Capitol Hill lawmakers and their aides. And he has hedged by discussing a backup plan with his former archrival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — often the first sign that he is souring on someone.
Before the “Meet the Press” interview, Trump’s public statements of support for Hegseth this week were limited to promoting a weeks-old New York Post article that praised Hegseth and a Friday post calling him a winner who is doing well.
“It’s clear the president has chosen not to express out loud his every thought, which is a good thing,” Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana) said, when asked how Trump’s quieter approach to advocating for his Cabinet picks compared with 2017. “I think he’s learned that, as president, you don’t have to always say it. And I think that’s a good thing. Obviously, his picks have been less traditional, and we’ll see how it turns out.”
Advertisement
Trump’s more hands-off posture could insulate him from the fallout if Hegseth withdraws or the Senate refuses to confirm him. Trump has said that he made the decision to withdraw his choice to run the Drug Enforcement Administration, Chad Chronister, and has distanced himself from former congressman Matt Gaetz’s choice to step aside last month as his pick for attorney general. But some of the president-elect’s allies are concerned about the potential political cost of losing multiple confirmation fights.
“If Hegseth gets pulled, it will weaken Trump’s standing with Senate Republicans and only embolden anti-Trump Republican senators to try to tank his other nominees that they don’t like,” said one Trump ally. “It will be a feeding frenzy.”
Other aides downplayed the impact of personnel changes before the inauguration, saying the defeats become more painful if Trump’s picks withdraw from consideration or fail to win confirmation after public hearings. Trump tamped down the consequences of Gaetz’s withdrawal by quickly nominating former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi in his place, they argued. Trump called multiple senators on Gaetz’s behalf, a person involved in the transition said. Gaetz made the final decision to withdraw, the person said.
Advertisement
Still, aides acknowledged wanting to prevent any further damage.
“It’s smashmouth football at this point,” an adviser said. “We’re doing everything we can do to defend Pete. We’re doing everything we can do to let everyone know he has an exceptional background and the experience to do this job. We’re doing everything we can to make sure we’re fighting tooth and nail to push back on all the stories and all the negativity.”
Trump has tapped communications adviser Jason Miller to help with the confirmation process for all nominees. And he has vented on social media about media coverage of the withdrawals, objecting to any suggestion that his standing has slipped.
“What’s my ‘latest’ setback???” he wrote Wednesday on Truth Social, referring to a Wall Street Journal headline about Chronister’s withdrawal from consideration for the DEA post. “I just won the Presidency of the United States!”
Advertisement
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the president-elect remains behind Hegseth to lead the Pentagon.
“Those who are peddling these outrageous and slanderous lies prove they are willing to sell themselves out in a despicable effort to smear an honorable man’s name,” Cheung said. “America looks forward to Mr. Hegseth serving his country once again as Secretary of Defense.”
Vice President-elect JD Vance reposted Trump’s Friday message in support of Hegseth, adding, “We’ve got his back.”
Hegseth’s imperiled Pentagon nomination was expected to be a topic of conversation on Trump’s overnight flight Friday to Paris, where he plans to attend the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral this weekend. Several people close to Trump strongly dislike DeSantis and are working to prevent him from getting tapped if Hegseth gets pulled, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Advertisement
Senate Republicans have shown little appetite to publicly challenge Trump’s choices or brag about their power to influence the composition of his Cabinet, instead hoping some of Trump’s most controversial picks would withdraw from consideration instead of forcing uncomfortable votes.
“People think this is an adversarial relationship between the White House and the Senate and it’s not,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), who has not committed to support Hegseth but who said a meeting the two held Thursday was encouraging. “It’s a matter of trying to build a team and do it correctly under the constitutional restraints that we have, which is to provide advice and consent. We want the president to be successful; we give the president the benefit of the doubt in building his team, but we also want to ask the questions that the public would ask.”
The number of unconventional picks — including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Kash Patel for FBI director and Kristi L. Noem for homeland security secretary — poses a conundrum for senators who might be willing to break with Trump once but not repeatedly.
Advertisement
“These are all aggressive picks,” a Republican close to Trump said. “When you’re swinging for the fences, you’re going to lose some.”
Senators and Trump allies acknowledged that Trump’s decision to name so many Cabinet picks so quickly and to skip traditional vetting contributed to the problems that some of his choices have faced. Some lawmakers expressed relief that the transition team reached an agreement with the Justice Department on Tuesday to allow FBI background checks and that Hegseth said Thursday he would submit to one.
“He’s been really quick, and I guess there’s a balance between doing it quick and taking the time to vet the nominees so you don’t get surprises,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of Trump.
Trump was generally aware of Gaetz’s well-publicized scandals, including a federal sex-trafficking investigation that resulted in no charges, but not that a House ethics report on sex and drug allegations had been set to be released days after his announcement. After Trump’s pick was announced, Gaetz resigned from the House, removing himself from the Ethics Committee’s jurisdiction and making the release of the report much less likely. The Hegseth revelations were more unsettling, several transition aides said, because the Trump team wasn’t expecting them.
Advertisement
The team also wasn’t prepared for right-wing opposition to Chronister, Trump’s choice for the DEA. Chronister, sheriff of Hillsborough County in Florida, faced attacks for participating in a Pride parade in March (as is common for local officials in cities like Tampa) and enforcing pandemic restrictions against a pastor. Chronister said he withdrew, but Trump then said he told Chronister to withdraw, because “I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters.”
This week, Trump also changed his choice of White House counsel from William McGinley, whom he had announced on Nov. 12, to campaign lawyer David Warrington. Trump said that McGinley would instead work for the task force on government spending led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, known as DOGE.
In Trump’s first term, his nominee for labor secretary, fast food CEO Andrew Puzder, withdrew from consideration in February 2017 in the face of Republican reservations about abuse accusations from his ex-wife and the fact that he employed an undocumented housekeeper. Days earlier, Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had resigned after misleading investigators about contacts with Russia’s ambassador.
Jacqueline Alemany, Michael Scherer and Dan Balz contributed to this report.
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