Pete Hegseth, who is President Donald Trump’s nominee for Defense secretary, has been making the rounds of the offices of senators who will be voting on his confirmation. On Monday, he met with Sen. Dan Sullivan in the senator’s D.C. office, and the senator had good things to say about the nominee, who is being trashed by Democrat partisans on Capitol Hill and in the legacy media.
“I had a productive meeting with SecDef nominee @PeteHegseth today,” Sullivan wrote. “We focused on the importance of restoring lethality and warfighting as the core mission at the Pentagon as well as the strategic importance of Alaska. I’m confident Pete will work to refocus our military on lethality and peace through strength, as well as getting rid of the damaging woke policies of the Biden admin, some of which I witnessed firsthand as a Marine Corps Reserve Officer.”
Hegseth might eventually visit Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, but that may be down the list for him, along with Maine Sen. Susan Collins. Those two Republicans are seen as hostile to the incoming administration. After all, it was Murkowski who voted to convict Donald Trump after he left the presidency in 2021, and it was Murkowski who believed the “me too” stories about now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and refused to vote to confirm him.
Murkowski, who flunked the Alaska Bar exam four times, had already signaled she would not vote to confirm Matt Gaetz as the next U.S. Attorney General because he was not “a serious candidate.” Gaetz has withdrawn his name.
Hegseth is facing accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017, although neither the local California district attorney nor the local police found the claims to be credible and the case never went to prosecution. Hegseth has indicated he was being stalked by the accuser.
Also visiting Sullivan this week was Rep. Elise Stefanik, whom Trump nominated for United Nations Ambassador.
“It was great meeting with Rep. @EliseStefanik today and I’m looking forward to hosting her back home in Alaska. It has been a pleasure working alongside Elise in Congress to combat antisemitism, which has been disturbingly on the rise around the world and pervasive in the UN for decades. I have full confidence Elise will do a great job representing the American people, will bring much-needed American leadership to the UN, and will hold those with anti-American and antisemitic views in the body accountable. Peace Through Strength!” Sullivan said.
