Publicly, Senate Republicans still have confidence in Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s ability to lead his department. But the constant stream of negative headlines surrounding Hegseth hasn’t been lost among them.
“There is certainly some grousing right now,” a Republican senator who was granted anonymity so they could share private conversations told NOTUS. This senator said that there are concerns over Hegseth removing staff the secretary has known for years.
“They’re saying, ‘Come on, we gave him the benefit of the doubt for the nom, but now we’re getting this other stuff.’ It doesn’t add up to good leadership,” this senator said.
Sen. Mike Rounds entertained the possibility that President Donald Trump could lose faith in Hegseth, who has now weathered yet another scandal over his handling of typically classified or highly sensitive information in Signal group chats.
“This is the president’s hire, and as long as he has the president’s support, I’m fine with it,” Rounds said. “My concern is if he loses the president’s support, then we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got a plan in place that the president is comfortable with, so we’re not jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
The Trump administration has maintained that officials have not improperly handled any classified information.
Trump said he thinks Hegseth will “get it together,” a belief that Senate Majority Leader John Thune echoed Monday. Thune told reporters that Hegseth needs “time” and “a team that he’s comfortable with and has trust in” to overcome recent issues.
“It’s a big department with a lot of moving parts,” Thune said. “Hopefully he and his team will, you know, get it organized into a place where we’re achieving our objectives.”
The unravelling of Hegseth’s staff and his continued presence in the press don’t seem to be letting up.
Sen. Roger Wicker, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, requested an inspector general investigation after news broke about Hegseth and top officials’ use of Signal in The Atlantic. Now, the committee’s staff is expecting that the most recent revelations — that there was a second Signal chat where information about the bomb strikes was shared with Hegseth’s family members and personal lawyer, as first reported by The New York Times — will be included in the investigation as well.
Rank-and-file Pentagon staff told NOTUS that their work environment has become difficult after recent staffing shakeups. One Defense official said offices avoid engaging with each other too much “due to a lack of trust.”
“The vibe is very tense and operating in silos of excellence,” they said. Another Defense official described it as people just “putting their heads down” and trying not to draw the ire of the Office of the Secretary.
“That really hurts us,” said Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. “Because you need stability at the top. You need the confidence that you can speak, and you give your best military opinion.”
Wicker said he still “absolutely” has confidence in Hegseth. The other Republicans on his committee agree.
“I have zero issues,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin said when asked about Hegseth’s time in the headlines. “Pete and I have visited about it. He’s got to get people in order.”
Mullin said that the people around Hegseth are still “playing politics” and that they’re “risk averse,” making it hard for Hegseth to focus on the administration’s priorities.
Hegseth’s continued issues with Signal have only compounded as he’s removed members of his own staff, including four key staffers who left the Department of Defense in the same week. Hegseth told reporters last week that the recent issues he’s had in the press were all because of “a bunch of hit pieces” after “a few leakers get fired.”
“Those people need to be out of the Pentagon,” Mullin said. “We own it, but all of us want people that we can trust, that are on board with our agenda.”
In that situation, the newscycle is just a given, Sen. Ted Budd said, defending Hegseth.
“If you fire a bunch of leakers, you’re going to get a lot of stories,” Budd said. “I’m always concerned about national security, but he’s very competent in leadership.”
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John T. Seward is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.