Pete Hegseth has a lengthy history of criticizing Republican senators. And now, as Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, he’ll need their votes.
The Army veteran and former Fox News host has often denounced Senate Republicans in recent years, particularly outgoing leader Mitch McConnell, according to transcripts Semafor reviewed of his public remarks since Trump’s 2016 election. He’s also taken digs at two more centrist GOP senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, and described the entire conference as “part of the captured class.”
“They’re part of the uniparty. Not all of them, there are a few good ones,” Hegseth told conservative radio host Mark Levin in April, describing Republican senators with a term used on the right to argue that both parties’ establishments are similar.
“They are far more happy dealing with Democrats and running up the national debt and playing inside-the-Beltway games than they are putting the country first and putting a stake in the ground for what they believe in,” he added.
There’s little chance Hegseth knew then that he would have to face the targets of his criticism in a confirmation hearing or on the Senate floor. But now Hegseth must win over 50 or more senators to be confirmed to lead the Pentagon under Trump, a job that would give him power over hundreds of billions of dollars.
Hegseth’s critiques of fellow Republicans could become a drag on his nomination as he begins meeting with senators this week. President Joe Biden’s first choice for budget director imploded because Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., did not appreciate her attacks on sitting senators.
It’s possible that Senate Republicans shrug off his remarks; they’re used to taking flak from the party’s MAGA wing. And Hegseth has let his flak fly over the years, often aligning himself with activists who sought to oust McConnell as GOP leader.
McConnell “seems unwilling to want to get to the bottom of the fact that a Democratic administration spied on a sitting president,” Hegseth said on Levin’s show in 2022, referring to allegations of government surveillance of Trump’s presidency. “Until there is new leadership of that Senate conference, it is not going to change, the priorities aren’t going to change.”
Hegseth also criticized McConnell’s level of pushback to liberal activists seeking to derail Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
McConnell declined to comment for this story. He said on Tuesday that the Senate will treat Trump’s nominees “like we treat all others, with proper vetting.”
Asked about Hegseth’s past criticisms of GOP senators, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung emphasized Hegseth’s military bona fides in a statement: “Pete served our country as an Army Combat Veteran who did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan.”
“With Pete as our Secretary of Defense, America’s enemies are on notice and our military will be great again,” Cheung said.
