Hegseth has faced allegations of alcohol abuse and sexual assault.
President-elect Donald Trump is considering nominating Republican presidential rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as Defense secretary, according to two people familiar with the situation.
DeSantis would replace Pete Hegseth, whose prospects for confirmation appear to be dimming amid allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse.
A final decision has not been made, according to the two people, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal matters.
Bringing DeSantis into the Trump administration fold could help the governor’s political prospects given that he is term-limited and scheduled to leave office in early 2027 when it was anticipated he could run for president again. It would lead to the ascension of Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, who would be the first female governor of Florida and the first of Cuban descent.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump was considering DeSantis. Hegseth is still meeting with senators this week and has a planned appearance on Fox News on Wednesday morning with his mother.
Hegseth was already facing a difficult confirmation because of a 2017 sexual assault allegation and because he has no experience running a large organization — let alone one as complex as the Pentagon. His prospects worsened in recent days after The New Yorker reported that he was forced out of leadership positions with two veterans organizations amid allegations of mismanagement, alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct.
Hegseth is making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, meeting with Senate Republicans in a bid to shore up his nomination. He cannot afford to lose more than three Republicans in a confirmation vote, assuming all Democrats oppose him.
He is expected to meet with several more GOP senators on Wednesday, including incoming Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who will oversee the confirmation process for Trump’s Pentagon chief, and incoming Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).
The allegations against Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran and former Fox News personality, include a 2017 allegation of sexual assault that was investigated by police in Monterey, California. He reached a settlement agreement with the accuser, though he was never charged for the incident and has denied wrongdoing.
Hegseth is facing enough opposition in the Senate — particularly among Republican women — that there are growing doubts about his ability to be confirmed, according to a Republican official granted anonymity to discuss the situation.
He will have a chance Wednesday to repair his standing with the Fox interview and with his Hill meetings, including one with Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, but there’s not much optimism that it will succeed, the official said.DeSantis, like Hegseth, may appeal to Trump’s stated goal of eliminating “woke” military officers from the Defense Department.
As a presidential candidate, the Florida governor unveiled a plan for the military that would have eliminated diversity initiatives, banned transgender service members from the military and reinstated members who’d refused a Covid-19 vaccine.
DeSantis and Trump spoke Tuesday when they both attended a memorial in Palm Beach for three law enforcement officers killed in a vehicle crash last month, a source familiar with the discussion confirmed. The person didn’t know whether the Defense secretary job came up.
DeSantis and Trump fought a bitter and personal primary battle that ended with the governor dropping out after the Iowa Caucuses. DeSantis accused Trump of being insufficiently conservative and played down the role that his endorsement had on getting him elected governor in 2018. The two made a truce this summer, and DeSantis helped to fundraise for Trump.
Read more:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/03/trump-considers-desantis-defense-secretary-hegseth-00192521
Washington, D.C., is bracing for an unprecedented show of support as over 100 Navy SEALs prepare to descend on the nation’s capital, standing in solidarity with President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth, a decorated Army combat veteran and prominent conservative voice, has faced relentless media attacks in recent weeks.
The fake news media have leveled accusations ranging from outdated and disproven sexual misconduct claims to allegations of public drunkenness and financial mismanagement during his tenure at Concerned Veterans for America (CVA).
Critics on the right are pushing back hard against what they view as a deliberate effort to derail a nominee poised to shake up the Defense Department.
Randy Lair, a trustee at CVA, categorically denied the whistleblower allegations, describing them as “sensational fabrications designed to undermine a patriot.”
In an exclusive letter to the New York Post, Lair emphasized that Hegseth left CVA on good ...
‘Charlatan’ vaccine promoter Dr. Peter Hotez said multiple viruses will be unleashed on America one day after Trump is inaugurated next month.
“We have some big picture stuff coming down the pike starting on January 21st,” Hotez said to MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace before rattling off a list of viruses:
Of course, Dr. Hotez failed to mention the measles outbreaks and Polio cases are primarily a problem with the illegal migrants invading the US.
Dr. Peter Hotez previously made headlines for refusing to debate author, activist, then-presidential candidate, attorney and now Trump’s nominee for HHS, Robert Kennedy, Jr., on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Rather than accept the challenge, Hotez lashed out at both Robert Kennedy Jr. and Joe Rogan, who invited the two to debate the facts on his show.
Hotez refused and ...
Several weeks of mysterious drone swarms over the skies of one New Jersey county near the military research and manufacturing facility Picatinny Arsenal have sparked concerns among residents and prompted an FBI investigation.
"It's kind of unsettling," Mike Walsh, a Morris County resident who has spotted the drones on numerous occasions, told local media outlet PIX11 News.
He said some drones "are very big, probably the size of a car."
Since Nov. 18, Walsh and many other residents have spotted these drones in the night sky.
"They're kind of go slow," he said, adding, "They come towards you. Then they change direction a little. They're all going different ways."
We first detailed the story on Nov. 19 in a note titled "Spy Drones? "Unusual Activity" Reported Over Morris County, New Jersey, Near Military Research Facility."
The potential national security threat piqued our interest, considering multiple reports that the mysterious drones were observed near Picatinny Arsenal.
PIX11 News said...
It’s Saturday, and that means it’s time for The Afterparty!
We start with the Simultaneous Sip, then you get the mic.
Bring a take on what we covered on the Scott Adams School with Erica and Marcela and the big news of the week — Florida subpoenaing Fauci, the Maricopa voter data breach, or the DSA’s useful idiots getting demolished by Mike Rowe.
Everyone is welcome to speak. Two rules:
1. Be respectful
2. Don’t interrupt
Request the mic. Bring friends.
https://x.com/owengregorian/status/2086081721661812750?s=46&t=za1kQOtu4Dod6Yb1P465eg
Grab your coffee (or whatever makes you happy), we’ll do the sip together, then chat about today’s news for about an hour.
Walz’s Minnesota letting people vote if someone “vouches” for them
An auditor saying 200,000+ NYC mayoral votes look suspicious
The DSA winning a $5.2 million inheritance lawsuit, California offering free meth and crack pipes…
Bring whatever’s on your mind. I’d love to hear from you.
Everyone’s welcome to speak. Just be kind, and don’t interrupt. See you there!
https://x.com/owengregorian/status/2083897876124459424?s=46&t=za1kQOtu4Dod6Yb1P465eg
In the weeks around the 2026 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, my phone kept buzzing with alerts about GLP-1 drugs and cancer. The headlines were everywhere—from NPR and The Washington Post to Substack and heated exchanges on social media—all circling the same claim: Ozempic might lower the risk of cancer.
In the first two weeks of July 2026, five of the largest defense investment decisions in modern European history arrived within days of one another: a $1.8 billion private fundraise for an AI defense startup, a NATO-wide $40 billion counter-drone commitment, a single German contract to deploy 50,000 AI-guided attack drones in Ukraine, a £5 billion British transformation program explicitly committing to weapons that make targeting decisions without per-strike human authorization, and a fresh $1.2 billion raise for a drone maker that positions itself as Europe's answer to Lockheed Martin. The convergence, reported today in a major CNBC synthesis, is not coincidental. It reflects a structural judgment: autonomous, software-defined warfare is no longer experimental. What drove each of these decisions to the same two-week window is the same thing driving all of them — a piece of palm-sized hardware that has quietly validated the entire premise of the investment surge in Ukrainian skies.
“We cannot save our democracy unless we democratize our economy.” A truck is backing up to the loading dock, delivering a giant cargo of old wine in new bottles. You’re going to be hearing more of this language.
