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President Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, his nominee for Secretary of Defense, have formed a united front to ensure Hegseth’s Senate confirmation.
While Trump’s nominees facing scrutiny from the Democrats and their media allies come as no surprise, Hegseth and others appear to be making a positive impression on Capitol Hill.
During an interview about Trump’s nominees with the Wall Street Journal, Trump Senior Adviser Jason Miller said, “Well right now this is President Trump’s party, and he won with a mandate. He won the popular vote. He should have the right to put in his people to run the various Cabinet agencies.”
Miller told the outlet that he believes Hegseth will be confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense and that all of Trump’s current nominees will sail through the process.
He credited the positive reception from the Senate to Trump “knowing exactly who he wants to put in to implement that agenda and the record pace at which he is moving.”
Miller said he believed that Hegseth “rounded the corner after this past weekend,” and noted that “there’s nobody who is a no on Pete Hegseth” from the Republican side of the aisle.
Trump’s campaign went to bat for Hegseth in a video compilation on X. The clip highlighted Hegseth’s remarks following his meetings on Capitol Hill. It also included comments from various lawmakers.
In one excerpt, Hegseth told reporters he was “on The Hill meeting with Senators, earning every vote.”
In another post-meeting interview, Hegseth said the meetings were “A wonderful process to go through and meet the senators and talk to them, especially members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, whose passion is the Defense Department.”
During a Fox News interview, Hegseth saluted President Trump for receiving 76 million votes and confidently revealed what Trump told him about his Cabinet position.
“Return the Pentagon to the warfighters, Pete. Get in there and clean out all the social justice, politically correct garbage on top, and get back to lethality, warfighting, accountability, meritocracy, and readiness,” Trump reportedly told Hegseth.
He told the outlet that he would “not get ahead of the President on policy or what our posture will be, but we will be strong, and we will have peace through strength, as Donald Trump has said, and we will put America first. That’s what he’s asked me to do at the Pentagon and that’s my promise to the American people and our warfighters led by President Donald Trump.”