Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) weighed in on President-elect Trump’s choice to faucet Fox Information host Pete Hegseth as his Protection chief, suggesting he might be “easily confirmed.”
“I dare any Republican senator to vote in opposition to him,” Chaffetz told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. “That’s not of their finest curiosity.”
“And we have to get him in place as quickly as potential. Reduction is on the way in which,” he said in an interview on “The Ingraham Angle,” highlighted by Mediaite. “That is precisely what I believe America was striving for. And I can’t consider how excited I’m.”
Ingraham additionally praised Hegseth — a co-host on Fox & Pals Weekend and an Military Nationwide Guard officer — as a savior for recruitment and deficit issues confronted by the U.S. navy.
Nonetheless, some Democratic lawmakers, together with Reps. Adam Smith (Wash.) and Dan Goldman (N.Y.), have questioned Trump’s choice.
“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,” stated Smith, the rating Democrat on the Home Armed Companies Committee, based on stories from The Related Press.
Goldman stated Trump’s selection 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 stated Tuesday.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) additionally stated she was stunned by the transfer, as his identify 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 stated after the president-elect’s announcement.
Sen. Invoice Cassidy (R-La.) merely requested, “Who?”
However the former president has not backed away from his choice, as an alternative offering his reasoning for choosing Hegseth to take the helm of protection 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 launched in a press release.
“With Pete on the helm, America’s enemies are on discover — Our Navy might be Nice Once more, and America will By no means Again Down,” he added.
After being declared the winner of the 2024 race, Trump wasted no time in rolling out a listing of people that will maintain Cupboard and key administration positions when he returns to the White Home in January.
