Pete Hegseth, Trump's embattled defense pick, vows to fight on |
By Scott Wong, Frank Thorp V and Rebecca Shabad |
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Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled pick for defense secretary, brushed aside suggestions Wednesday that he would drop out and said he had spoken to Trump, who he said urged him to “keep going, keep fighting.” “I spoke to the president-elect this morning. He said: ‘Keep going, keep fighting. I’m behind you all the way.’” Hegseth told CBS News in the Capitol. “Why would I back down? I’ve always been a fighter. I’m here for the fighters. This is personal and passionate for me.” Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to receive it weekdays. But his nomination appeared to be in serious jeopardy Tuesday and Wednesday after a series of news reports raised more questions about his treatment of women and his history with alcohol. On Wednesday, Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth, defended her son on “Fox and Friends" and addressed a 2018 email she wrote amid his divorce that accused him of mistreating women for years. The New York Times published details of the email last week. Hegseth showed no signs of calling it quits, holding a flurry of meetings with lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol and engaging in a media blitz to salvage his nomination, including writing an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal titled: “I’ve Faced Fire Before. I Won’t Back Down.” In response to the allegations, Hegseth referred reporters to an interview he recorded on former Fox News host Megyn Kelly's SiriusXM show earlier in the day, in which he said he does not have a drinking problem and denied that he raped a woman in Monterey, California, in 2017. "Absolutely not. Absolutely not," he said when he was asked whether he raped the woman. "I’ve been honest about that encounter, starting with law enforcement. ... I may have been drinking, but I was cognizant of enough to remember every single detail. "I’m not here to say that my conduct was good," he continued. "Being in a hotel room with someone that’s, you know, not the person you’re with is not OK. I own up to that." Hegseth also said he is "not going to have a drink at all" if he is confirmed as defense secretary, saying he wants Trump, senators and U.S. troops to know that he can be called 24/7 and will be "fully dialed in." NBC News reported Wednesday morning that Trump is considering replacing Hegseth amid the opposition to his nomination. Others Trump could tap to lead the Pentagon, sources familiar with the decision-making said, are Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; and Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., his current pick for national security adviser. Read more → |
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Democrats flip final House seat of the 2024 elections, narrowing Republicans' majority |
By Bridget Bowman and Scott Wong |
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The final race Washington was waiting on from last month’s election has officially been called: NBC News projected Wednesday morning that Democrat Adam Gray defeated GOP Rep. John Duarte in California’s 13th District after weeks of ballot counting. The result means Republicans will control 220 seats to Democrats’ 215 next year. That will leave Republicans with even less margin for error as they try to advance President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda, as they can lose only two votes on legislation if Democrats are united in opposition. |
Further complicating the math for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is the fact that Trump has chosen two sitting GOP members for his Cabinet: Elise Stefanik of New York to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Mike Waltz of Florida to be national security adviser. And Republicans are already going to be down a lawmaker in the new Congress. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., resigned from the House last month after Trump selected him to be the next attorney general. But Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration amid allegations of sexual misconduct. He has said he does not plan to join the next Congress even though he won re-election in November. If the Stefanik and Waltz resignations happen simultaneously, Johnson could be operating with just a one-seat majority: 217 to 215. The special general elections in Florida to replace Gaetz and Waltz won’t take place until April 1. Once Stefanik resigns from Congress, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has 10 days to declare a special election in New York, which must occur 70 to 80 days after the proclamation, according to state law. Read more → |
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| | The Trumpification of Joe Biden |
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President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter has earned plenty of criticism — and most of it, even the harsh partisan-tinged kind of criticism, has real merit. There’s no defense of the pardon beyond this one: He’s a father, and what parents wouldn’t use whatever power they had to help their children in crisis? I’m not going to pretend that, facing a similar circumstance, I wouldn’t have made the same decision — do whatever it takes to protect my child even if it means destroying my own legacy. That is what makes criticism of Biden’s decision complicated. There’s a human element to this that’s tragic on so many levels. It truly does meet the definition of “Shakespearean,” an overused description in today’s world that nevertheless is a perfect fit for this event. Now, the question is: How much damage has Biden done under the auspices of protecting his son? Presidential acts are permission slips. Once a president has done something unprecedented, it means there’s a precedent. And once one president tries something and gets away with it, I promise you, a future one will try something similar. Well, welcome to a new precedent. The president has now overturned a jury of fellow American citizens, not some kangaroo court, who convicted his son. And he cleared him of not just the charges he has faced, but also of any future charges he could face from anything he may have done over a 10-year period from 2014 (when Hunter first tried to do business in Ukraine) to now. Who knows whether Donald Trump grants pardons before he leaves office that read almost identical to the Hunter Biden pardon — but that he makes the dates to June 15, 2015 (the day he rode down the escalator), to Jan. 20, 2029, his last day in office? Whatever the chances are, they have surely gone up. More importantly, Biden has now borrowed Trump’s rhetoric to describe what he views as Hunter’s experience with the justice system. What kind of precedent will we have set if both parties accept the premise that whoever’s elected is going to politically prosecute his or her opponents? It’s part of Biden’s rationale for the pardon. And it will surely be Trump’s rationale for future pardons. What’s the general public supposed to think of the justice system now? The leading Republican in the country (Trump) and the leading Democrat in the country (Biden) have both claimed the system is unjust because of politics. Read more from Chuck → ⚖️ Related read: The judge who presided over the California tax fraud case against Hunter Biden called out the president for mischaracterizing and minimizing the charges against his son in announcing why he was pardoning him. Read more → |
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⚖️ SCOTUS on transgender rights: The Supreme Court’s conservative majority Wednesday leaned toward upholding a Tennessee law that restricts gender transition treatments, appearing not to believe that the law constitutes a form of sex discrimination that would mean courts have to give it close scrutiny. Read more → 🏛 The states on transgender rights: A measure to bar Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, the state’s first transgender legislator, from using women’s restrooms at the state Capitol failed to advance Tuesday, with several Republicans voting against it. Read more → 👀 Trump transition watch, part 1: Trump announced that Peter Navarro would serve be “senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.” Navarro, a top White House aide during Trump’s first term, went to prison this year for defying a congressional subpoena from a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Read more → 🚀 Trump transition watch, part 2: Trump said he plans to nominate billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to lead NASA. Isaacman has flown to space twice on commercial SpaceX missions but has not worked in the federal government. Read more → 💼 Trump transition watch, part 3: Trump said he will select David Warrington, his longtime personal lawyer and general counsel to his campaign, to be White House counsel. Trump announced last month that William McGinley would take the job, but he said Wednesday he would instead be counsel to the "Department of Government Efficiency." Read more → 👪 Family ties: As Trump assembles a senior staff and Cabinet for his second administration, there are notable absences: his children. Read more → 🔎 Digging into Kash Patel: Trump’s pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, promoted a supplement line this year that purports without evidence to help people “detox” from Covid vaccines. He also has vowed to "come after" the media, but he later emphasized that his comments apply only if people "broke the law." ➡️ Deportation preparation: Trump transition officials are exploring building immigration detention facilities on a plot of land the state of Texas recently purchased along the Rio Grande. Read more → 🍑 Georgia on my mind: Trump’s attorneys asked a Georgia appeals court to dismiss the Fulton County racketeering case against him because a "sitting president is completely immune from indictment or any criminal process, state or federal." Read more → 🔵 Moving on: Longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said he was dropping his bid to remain the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and endorsed Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who announced just two days ago that he would challenge Nadler for the coveted job. Read more → 🗳On to 2026, part 1: Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a longtime Democrat, is launching an independent campaign for governor of Michigan, shaking up the early stages of the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2026. Read more →
🗳On to 2026, part 2: Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming announced he would challenge Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who voted to convict Trump after his 2021 impeachment trial. Read more →
📺 Mark your calendar: NBC News’ Kristen Welker will conduct an exclusive interview with Trump to air Sunday on “Meet the Press.” Read more →
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Watch: Chuck Todd: Pete Hegseth 'created his own problems' as Trump weighs other defense picks |
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That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at [email protected]. And if you’re a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up here. |
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