The Hill is reporting that around eight Republicans oppose Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense, which would surely doom his nomination.
Part of the problem, according to Republicans, is that they feel like Trump has undermined Hegseth’s nomination with news of DeSantis being a potential backup if Hegseth can’t get the votes.
Either way, seven or eight would kill the nomination because Republicans only have a majority of 53 in the Senate.
Here’s more via The Hill:
Pete Hegseth’s nomination to serve as secretary of Defense appears doomed despite his fiery declaration that he’s “not going anywhere,” Republicans on Capitol Hill told The Hill on Thursday.
“I think most people do not expect Hegseth to make it,” said one Republican senator. “There’s seven or eight [Republican] votes against him. It’s a matter of time.”
“It’s on the death watch,” the senator added.
GOP senators say that President-elect Trump is letting Hegseth twist in the wind and even appeared to undermine his nomination by floating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as a possible replacement nominee to head the Pentagon.
Republican senators say that Trump isn’t making calls to GOP senators to save Hegseth’s floundering nomination and instead is throwing more ballast onto a sinking ship by floating DeSantis as a replacement.
DeSantis, a Navy judge advocate general who is a member of the U.S. Navy Reserve, would easily win confirmation, the GOP source said.
“Where is all of this stuff about DeSantis coming from? That’s all coming out of Mar-a-Lago,” the first GOP senator who spoke to The Hill said.
A second Republican senator said that Trump floated DeSantis’s name for the secretary of Defense to a group of people over the weekend.
A third Republican senator said Hegseth’s nomination is “trending” in the wrong direction.
A Senate Republican aide said as many as eight Republican senators are prepared to vote against Hegseth, but most of them are not willing to call publicly for Hegseth to resign because they don’t want to be criticized by Trump’s MAGA allies.