ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Could Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis be tapped to lead the U.S. Department of Defense? According to several reports, President-elect Trump is considering replacing his current pick, Pete Hegseth, with the Sunshine State's leader.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report the news on Tuesday, citing "people familiar with the discussions" as several allegations have surfaced against Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army National Guard veteran.
According to CBS News, citing three sources "familiar with the transition," the discussion to potentially replace Hegseth comes after Trump and DeSantis both attended the memorial for three fallen Palm Beach County deputies on Tuesday.
CBS News said neither Trump's spokesperson nor DeSantis' office provided comment when asked about the reports.
Meanwhile, Hegseth has been on Capitol Hill this week meeting privately with Republican senators. He told reporters Tuesday that he was planning to sit down with senators, even with those potentially skeptical of his nomination.
“We’re going to meet with every senator that wants to meet with us, across the board,” Hegseth said Tuesday as he went from office to office. “And we welcome their advice as we go through the advice and counsel process.”
Trump tapped the Fox News co-host, a former Army National Guard major and combat veteran who deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan, as his Secretary of Defense, typically among the first Cabinet posts to be considered by the U.S. Senate for confirmation.
But Hegseth is running into questions amid a sexual assault allegation, which he has denied, and other emerging reports about his work conduct and history.
Before he was tapped to serve as a weekend host of “Fox & Friends,” Hegseth served at two veterans advocacy groups, Concerned Veterans for America and Veterans For Freedom.
In new allegations this week, The New Yorker cited what it described as a whistleblower report and other documents about his time leading CVA that alleged multiple incidents of alcohol intoxication at work events, inappropriate behavior around female staffers and financial mismanagement.
NBC News reported that several unnamed current and former Fox employees who worked with Hegseth said his drinking habits raised concerns, including some who said he would show up smelling of alcohol.
The Associated Press spoke to four people who had either worked at CVA or were familiar with Hegseth’s time there who insisted on anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media or had signed nondisclosure agreements.
While the group’s all-day conferences could run late and often wind up at a nearby bar, three of the four said they had not seen Hegseth intoxicated at events.
One person who had been connected to CVA told the AP, however, that some employees had raised concerns about Hegseth’s alcohol use but said that his departure from the group was more connected to growing ideological differences between him and the network of conservative nonprofits funded by billionaire donors Charles Koch and his late brother, David Koch.
Hegseth served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. He lacks senior military and national security experience and would oversee global crises ranging from Europe to the Middle East.
A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public.
Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and has denied any wrongdoing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.