By newsfirstusa 
President-elect Trump is thinking about nominating Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida as protection secretary to switch Pete Hegseth, Trump’s embattled tide pick out to influence the Pentagon, more than one assets verify to Fox Information.
DeSantis, a sour Trump rival terminating pace and early this pace all through the GOP presidential nomination fight, made leisure with Trump nearest the primaries and helped elevate price range for Trump all through the overall election.
The popular conservative governor, a Army veteran who served within the Iraq Struggle, used to be re-elected in a landslide in 2022 however is term-limited and can’t run for re-election in 2026.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis waves from the degree on Occasion 2 of the Republican Nationwide Conference at Fiserv Discussion board in Milwaukee on July 16. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)
DeSantis is “very much” in competition to switch Hegseth, more than one assets instructed Fox Information.
One supply added that it used to be the president-elect himself who floated the governor’s identify, and that Trump and DeSantis mentioned the speculation as they met Tuesday time showing in combination in Florida at a memorial provider for fallen regulation enforcement officials in Palm Seashore County.
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The reporting from Fox Information and alternative organizations comes as Hegseth on Wednesday returns to Capitol Hill to proceed assembly with Republican senators as he makes his case for affirmation as defense secretary.
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be protection secretary, is joined through his spouse Jennifer Rauchet, as they advance during the basement of the Capitol, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein) (AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein)
Hegseth, an Military Nationwide Safeguard officer who deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and who prior to now used to be a Fox Information host, is going through a layout of consuming and sexual misconduct allegations.
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Hegseth has denied allegations that he mistreated girls.
“I spoke with the President-elect this morning. He said keep going, keep fighting,” Hegseth instructed newshounds as he arrived on Capitol Hill.
“Why would I back down? I have always been a fighter,” he added.
Hegseth additionally made his case in a social media submit on Wednesday morning, writing, “I’m doing this for the warfighters, not the warmongers.”
However a supremacy Trump best friend within the Senate is worried.
“He obviously has a chance to defend himself here. But some of this stuff is — it’s going to be difficult,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an established army veteran, instructed newshounds on Tuesday.
A number of the senators Hegseth used to be assembly with on Wednesday is Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, an army veteran and sexual-assault sufferer whose help can be an important to his Senate affirmation.
Ernst instructed newshounds at the eve of the assembly that she would most probably have a “frank and thorough conversation” with Hegseth.
Hegseth’s mom, Penelope Hegseth, gave the impression Wednesday on “FOX and Friends” to barricade her son and “set the record straight.”
“I am here to tell the truth. To tell the truth to the American people and tell the truth to senators on the Hill, especially female senators. I really hope that you will not listen to the media and you will listen to Pete,” she added.
From left: President Trump, a Undisclosed Carrier member, Eric Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his spouse Casey DeSantis attend a memorial provider for 3 fallen Palm Seashore County Sheriff’s deputies on the South Florida Fairgrounds in Palm Seashore County on Tuesday. (Invoice Ingram/Imagn)
If Trump strikes forward and nominates DeSantis and the governor is showed through the GOP-controlled Senate nearest pace, it will govern to the ascension of Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez. She would manufacture historical past as Florida’s first feminine governor — and the primary of Cuban descent.
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The Wall Boulevard Magazine used to be first to record the inside track that Trump is thinking about DeSantis for protection secretary.