Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) weighed in on President-elect Trump’s decision to tap Fox News host Pete Hegseth as his Defense chief, suggesting he will be “easily confirmed.”
“I dare any Republican senator to vote against him,” Chaffetz told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. “That is not in their best interest.”
“And we need to get him in place as soon as possible. Relief is on the way,” he said in an interview on “The Ingraham Angle,” highlighted by Mediaite. “This is exactly what I think America was striving for. And I can’t believe how excited I am.”
Ingraham also praised Hegseth — a co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend and an Army National Guard officer — as a savior for recruitment and deficit problems faced by the U.S. military.
However, some Democratic lawmakers, including Reps. Adam Smith (Wash.) and Dan Goldman (N.Y.), have questioned Trump’s decision.
“There is reason for concern that this is not a person who is a serious enough policymaker, serious enough policy implementer, to do a successful job,” said Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, according to reports from The Associated Press.
Goldman said Trump’s choice made him “very disturbed.”
“I’m shocked, truly, and this is exactly what we worried about when we warned about Donald Trump, which is that he is going to appoint unqualified loyalists to shape this government into his own personal fiefdom,” he said Tuesday.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also said she was surprised by the move, as his name had not come up for consideration.
“Wow… I’m just surprised because the names that I’ve heard for Secretary of Defense have not included him,” Murkowski said after the president-elect’s announcement.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) simply asked, “Who?”
But the former president has not backed away from his decision, instead providing his reasoning for selecting Hegseth to take the helm of defense efforts in a public announcement.
“Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country. Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump released in a statement.
“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” he added.
After being declared the winner of the 2024 race, Trump wasted no time in rolling out a list of people who will hold Cabinet and key administration positions when he returns to the White House in January.
