Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst (R) is not yet ready to give her full support to President-elect Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, stating that she would like to hear more from him.
“I am a survivor of sexual assault. I’ve worked very heavily on sexual assault measures within the military. So, I’d like to hear a lot more about that,” Ernst said during the Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Saturday, as reported by The Associated Press.
Ernst, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will handle Hegseth’s confirmation hearing if he remains the nominee to head the Defense Department, said Saturday that she will meet with Hegseth for the second time next week as the nominee continues to make his pitch to members of Congress.
“There will be a very thorough vetting before he moves forward,” Ernst said at the conference, as reported by AP.
Hegseth faces an uphill battle on his way to Senate confirmation, as the GOP is expected to hold a one-seat majority on the committee next year. If any Republican on the panel votes against Hegseth, it would complicate his chances of advancing to the Senate floor.
Ernst has been noncommittal with her support for Hegseth, who’s faced significant scrutiny related to allegations of sexual assault connected to an encounter he says was consensual, as well as previous comments he’s made about not allowing women to be in combat roles in the military.
Meanwhile, combatting sexual assault in the military has been one of Ernst’s top priorities in Congress, which has catapulted her into the spotlight amid the allegations against Hegseth.
He’s also faced allegations of excessive drinking. The New Yorker reported Sunday that Hegseth was forced to step down by two nonprofit advocacy groups he ran due to mismanagement of funds, sexual impropriety and excessive drinking, and NBC News reported Tuesday that Hegseth’s drinking worried colleagues at Fox News, where he was a weekend host until earlier this month.
A New York Times story also reported that Hegseth’s mother sent him an email in 2018 accusing him of “routinely mistreating women for years” and displaying a “lack of character.”
His mother, Penelope Hegseth, recanted her comments during a phone interview with The Times, however, as she sent a follow-up message at the time apologizing for her original email, claiming she sent the email “in anger, with emotion” when her son and his wife were going through a divorce.
