Trump adds more nominees, as Pete Hegseth says he will fight against attempts to oust him from Defense

By
Suzanne Downing
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41
Pete Hegseth and Sen. Dan Sullivan

In a Wall Street Journal opinion column on Wednesday, Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth put to rest the media-spread rumors that he would withdraw from the position he was named to — leading the U.S. Department of Defense. He said he would stay and fight for it and that Donald Trump encouraged him to fight on through the allegations being brought against him.

“I’ve been through a lot: combat tours, job changes, divorces and family challenges. (Yes, I love my mom very much, and she loves me.) I have always led with honesty, integrity and passion. Tragically, many veterans never find the purpose for their next chapter and succumb to the bottle, depression or, worst of all, suicide. I understand what they are facing—because I’ve lived it. But by the grace of God, I took another path. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has renewed and restored my life. I am saved by his grace,” Hegseth wrote in the newspaper.

“The press is peddling anonymous story after anonymous story, all meant to smear me and tear me down. It’s a textbook manufactured media takedown. They provide no evidence, no names, and they ignore the legions of people who speak on my behalf. They need to create a bogeyman, because they believe I threaten their institutional insanity. That is the only thing they are right about,” Hegseth wrote.

“Talk to those who served with me in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan or the National Guard. They support me, and I’m honored by that. I have never backed down from a fight and won’t back down from this one. I am grateful President-elect Trump chose me to lead the Defense Department, and I look forward to an honest confirmation hearing with our distinguished senators—not a show trial in the press,” he concluded in this op-ed that has been made available outside the Wall Street Journal’s paywall.

Hegseth and Stefanik stop in to visit with Sen. Dan Sullivan as nomination process continues

Trump on Wednesday named former Missouri Congressman Billy Long to serve as the next commissioner of what is arguably the most despised agency of the Deep State: The Internal Revenue Service. It’s one of several names he has announced in the past 24 hours to key posts, most of which will require the Senate’s confirmation.

“Billy brings 32 years of experience running his own businesses in Real Estate and, as one of the premier Auctioneers in the Country. He then served 12 years in Congress, because he felt it was important for his constituents to have a Representative who has signed the front of a check!”
 
Since leaving Congress, Long has worked as a business and tax advisor. While in office, he cosponsored Bill H.Res.1005: Honoring the life and legacy of the late Congressman Don Young of Alaska.

Trump also announced that David A. Warrington will be the assistant to the president and counsel to the president, leading the Office of White House Counsel and serving as the top attorney for the White House. Warrington is Trump’s personal attorney and is a partner at the Dhillon Law Group. A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, he is a former president of the Republican National Lawyers Association and a graduate of Georgetown University School of Law.

Trump named Monica Crowley to serve as ambassador, assistant secretary of State, and chief of protocol. Crowley, like Hegseth did in 2016, has visited Alaska as a guest speaker of the Alaska Republican Party in years past.

“Monica will be the Administration Representative for major U.S. hosted events, including America’s 250th Birthday in 2026, the FIFA World Cup in 2026, and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028,” Trump said. During his first term, Crowley was assistant secretary of the Treasury for public affairs.

Gail Slater was nominated to be assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice.

“Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech! I was proud to fight these abuses in my First Term, and our Department of Justice’s antitrust team will continue that work under Gail’s leadership,” Trump said. Slater served in the first Trump Administration on his National Economic Counsel. Recently, she worked in the Senate office of Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Trump has picked Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins, a crypto-currency expert, was a former commissioner at the SEC. SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced last month that he will step down when Trump becomes president on Jan. 20.  

Former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia is Trump’s pick to run the Small Business Administration.

Former White House adviser Peter Navarro, who just finished serving a prison sentence over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 disruption at the U.S. Capitol, will come back as a senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, which “leverages Peter’s broad range of White House experience, while harnessing his extensive Policy analytic and Media skills,” Trump wrote.

41 COMMENTS

  1. Strangly, he doesn’t deny it. His mom says he is a changed man. That may be but congress wants answers. Trump can’t afford another failed nominee. He should be saving some of his arguments for when he fights congress, but that’s not his way. He’s to stubborn.

    • Too bad, latest articles are telling that Pete and Kash have unbounded republican support of all Senators.

      On another note you decry Pete a drunk, so we’re Bill and Hillary, Nancy, Bohner, and no one bemoaned their bad behaviors.

    • Has anyone checked to see if Hegseth applied for a gun and didn’t admit that he had a serious drinking problem?

  2. Pete Hegseth doesn’t want women to serve in combat roles yet he has his mother out here fighting his battles. Class act, would be an inspiration for our Armed Forces.

    • Sebastian,
      Like Pete Hegseth’s Mom, i too watched as my middle son , a U.S. Marine, Infantry Sgt fly off to Afghanistan, 3 times… in service to your great war chief Obama.

      Young men came back from these conflicts with wounds some visible and some not. It is said that the armed forces are comprised of at least two types of people, warriors and bureaucrats. Hegeseth is obviously a warrior.

      Warriors such as Hegeseth and my Son both had some nasty stuff to work out after their service. It appears to me that like my Son Hegeseth has faced these demons and is a better man for it. Pity that you are so partisan and ignorant that you are blinded to what has happened to our Armed Forces.

      Hegseth is an inspirational leader and will be an excellent SECDEF

    • Man child through and through. Drunk, failed husband and cheat multiple times, alleged rapist, loose cannon. But he found Jesus so all is well. All he has to so is release his accuser from the NDA and clear up this little storm.

      • Imagine if we had learned that Jennifer Granholm had gone around promising ‘not to drink on the job’ if they made her the Secretary of Energy.

        • Now it’s coming out that pete signed a nondisclosure agreement with that veterans group that he was the c e o of before he was forced out due to allegations of drinking, sexing and an attitude towards foreign nationals that the group didn’t agree with…. and they paid him a hundred and seventy two thousand dollars, four severance pay over the course of two years. So now we have him saying all arabs need to be killed, multiple allegations of him not being able to keep his zipper up on his pants, and conduct unbecoming. There’s also allegations that after a fox and friends segment, there were some warm beers there that they were using as a prop. And after the shoot, he slammed them down at 10 in the morning.
          Also, allegations of him being at a Christmas party with his mistress when her ex-husband walked in
          And human resources had to escort him out so that he would be sober Enough to do his six AM segment on fox news. Yes, this guy probably has some PTSD Issues to still work out
          But until then, it appears that he’s just a loose cannon, that is still a drunk and a womanizer. On top of all that as if we need any more, the video comes out there. He was talkin badly about Trump, saying that Trump was
          An armchair bully with not much substance to him. But I won’t hold that against him. I guess most people who have worked with trump Walk away thinking the same thing.

      • Forker, it’s become tedious, this perusal of must read comments lately, due to your Myna Bird repetition of MSNLSD talking points.
        My fingers are rubbed raw swiping past your inane babbling.

        • That breaks my heart. It breaks my heart that you are so intolerant of anyone with a difference of opinion from your own. It must be lonely in your world. You must be against the 1st ammendment too. So sad

          • Has nothing to do with what I posted. I know of others who stopped visiting MRAK due to the likes of the continuous dribble of msm talking points posted here. The less traffic does not help SD’s cause.

            • Look, first you come on here and stalk my every post. Then you accuse mrak of having me on their payroll to increase subscriptions by provided a moral compass, now you plead with SD to kick me off in a feeble attempt at threatening subscription counts. I can tell you that both SD and the parent company have morals. I keep a level head in my debates, something that is required. Even when attacks by you and other have launched vicious attacks and name calling. I chalk it up to your youth and inexperience. Some folks decide to shelve morality when their candidate seeks appointment. Some are lacking of any. That’s fine. I accept that we all aren’t the same. If you can’t come on here and act civil, or it leaves a bad taste in your mouth to do so, perhaps it is best if you took a time out.

              • I only call out liars and uninformed posters. Did you get this job from a Craigslist add? Had to have a side hustle?

  3. Conservative Review Liberty Score:

    Dan Sullivan 64% “D” rated “Republican

    Still better then The Princess

    Lisa Murkowski 29% “F”

  4. If the Democrats are trying hard to smear a nominee, it is almost prima facie evidence that the candidate would do a good job.

      • The frost is on your pumpkin, Greg. The nation has spoken; there is a new sheriff in town, and President Trump has a landslide mandate to lead our country out of the darkness and failures of the Biden / Harris administration. Get used to it, Greg. Wake up to reality for once. You and the obstructionist woke liberals have been fired.

    • And increases the need to press Murkowski to support Trump’s nominees, as she’s got TDS pretty bad. Please write her! ‘https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

  6. Thank God for Donald Trump and his new Cabinet, including Pete Hegseth. Goodbye to DEI, the open borders, the 20 million unvetted illegal aliens, the printing of billions of “new” dollars, and the inflation that followed and is destroying our economy.

    • With Dems we get DEI, with Republicans we get drunk’n sailors. So NEAT! Boomers know how to pick ’em, and doing such great work. Smart people!

  7. Trump approved 8.8 trillion in new debt gross. Think about that. Many countries aren’t using the dollar anymore, but instead use each other’s currency. This hurts us and contributes to inflation. Now with massive tariffs looming, the eventually collapsed dollar is something you may see in your lifetime. I hope I don’t, but am prepared just in case

    • Exactly how much did your boy Joey add? 1trillion dollar infrastructure act? The inflation act? I have not seen any reduction in costs at the pump or the grocery store. I also have seen no new infrastructure projects. How about 8 billion for charging stations? They built like a total of 6 or 7.

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