Pete Hegseth may face a tough path to securing a Senate confirmation as one of President-elect Donald Trump’s most controversial nominees, but one Republican senator has quickly emerged as a key supporter for Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, one of the first senators to meet with Hegseth on Capitol Hill, has been a vocal supporter of the former Fox News anchor as he faces questions about his past conduct. The senator’s support is no small matter: Mullin has a perch on the Senate Committee on Armed Services, whose members are trusted by their peers to ask the tough questions for this role.
When asked about Mullin advocating for him, Sen. Lindsey Graham said it’s a good thing.
“He doesn’t have a better friend,” Graham said.
Mullin’s made the media rounds on Hegseth’s behalf, telling CNN that the allegations don’t prevent Hegseth from moving forward and calling Hegseth “perfect” for the position on Fox News. On Monday, as about a dozen Senate Republicans waited to meet with the defense secretary pick, the two shared a bro hug outside the meeting room. Mullin even suggested to Hegseth’s wife that she should visit with his wife.
“Just with his background and what the president is wanting to get done in his next four years, I think Pete fits right in that role,” Mullin told NOTUS when asked why he’s been motivated to support Hegseth.
His Republican peers are overall supportive of Mullin’s bolstering of the Trump pick.
“I think Markwayne is well thought of, and that’s exactly what people ought to be doing up here,” Sen. Rick Scott told NOTUS of Mullin’s advocacy. “The things that they believe in, they ought to be very vocal about.”
So far, Hegseth has only met with ardent Trump supporters, senators who are expected to back him as he moves toward confirmation. As Hegseth goes from office to office in the Senate buildings, Mullin’s advocacy on air and the conversations with his peers aren’t at the top of everyone’s mind, though.
Sens. Ted Cruz and Ted Budd both said that while they were very supportive of Hegseth, they weren’t aware of any informal role that Mullin had started to play in shepherding him through the confirmation process.
“I’ve not had a conversation with Markwayne about that,” Cruz said after espousing ardent support for the president-elect’s pick for secretary of defense.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville told NOTUS, “We’re all on the same page” and that 15 to 20 senators had been talking about Hegseth with one another.
“If you’re running for a position like this, you have to have consultants kind of advise,” Tuberville said of Hegseth’s tour across the Capitol complex. He sees the meetings with Mullin and others as a critical component of the nomination process. “You know, what you can do, can’t do, what you need to know, what you’ve got to study. You know, people to talk to. It’s like anything.”
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who was one of the senators who met with Hegseth on Monday, acknowledged Mullin’s support for Hegseth and told NOTUS she supports the nomination as well.
“I think that’s just great,” Lummis said about Mullin’s vocal support for Hegseth. “[Hegseth] is who President Trump nominated and who he wants.”
The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment. But Senate support is something Hegseth is in the market for as reports about his past behavior continue to put his nomination — which was already a surprise to many lawmakers — in a precarious position.
Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017, though he was never charged and denies any wrongdoing. On Sunday, The New Yorker published an investigation detailing a history of mismanagement and drinking that reportedly resulted in him being forced out of his jobs at Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America.
Meanwhile, Mullin has been sanguine about the allegations, recently defending Hegseth on CNN and saying that he “absolutely” believes Hegseth’s side of the story. Mullin has said that he takes the allegations seriously, especially “as a father of three beautiful girls” but that he supports Hegseth and his position.
“I don’t know Pete personally,” Mullin told NOTUS. “I’ve met with him once. I’ve been on his show a couple times, but that was via, you know, Zoom, or whatever other form it was, and met with him right before we left to go on break.”
The conversation with Hegseth was “positive,” and they talked about “a whole host of things,” though Mullin wouldn’t go into detail on what was said.
Mullin said he’s had “a lot” of conversations with lawmakers about Hegseth, adding that he just had some on Monday.
“I think they’ve been very positive,” Mullin said of the conversations with other Republican senators. “The idea of going in a completely different direction, we’re all for it.”
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Em Luetkemeyer and John T. Seward are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.