Trump has expressed to those close to him that #Hegseth should have been more honest and forthcoming about the challenges he could face getting through the confirmation process given his history.
(🤣 What about doing an FBI background check, Donnie?)
Trump, who is considering other options (a list that includes Sen Joni Ernst) for the role, has not been working the phones for Hegseth
-- as he did for Matt Gaetz.
Trump's political team is focused on figuring out where female Republican senators stand on Hegseth.
Trump's advisers are fully aware that with such a thin GOP Senate majority, Hegseth's fate could all come down to the women in the conference.
Sen. Joni Ernst, a key Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee that will hold his confirmation hearings,
notably declined to voice support for Hegseth after meeting with him on Wednesday -- and then again on Thursday on Fox News,
which Trump is known to watch.
Ernst told Fox News host Bill Hemmer she had a "very frank" and "productive" discussion with Hegseth. -- When pressed by Hemmer that that didn't sound as if she had gotten to a yes on his confirmation, she replied,
"I think you are right."
Ernst is the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate and a sexual assault survivor herself.
Hegseth has faced allegations of sexual assault (which he's denied) and previously said that women should not serve in ground combat roles in the military.