Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin expressed confidence that Pete Hegseth will be confirmed as defense secretary, despite opposition from GOP moderates.
Hegseth cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Thursday, setting up a final confirmation vote expected Friday evening. But Republican Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, both publicly declared their opposition to his nomination, meaning the GOP can only afford one more defection before Hegseth’s confirmation is lost.
Mullin, in an interview on the ‘Guy Benson Show’ with guest host Jason Rantz, said there are 50 ‘hard yes’ votes for Hegseth to be confirmed and estimated he will receive as many as 52 votes, with all Democrats and the moderate Republicans from Alaska and Maine voting against.
‘He’s definitely being confirmed tomorrow,’ Mullin told Rantz. ‘I don’t know what the White House schedule is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was sworn into office on Saturday.’
The Senate voted 51-49 to advance Hegseth’s nomination on Thursday, which triggered up to 30 hours of debate before a final vote. President Donald Trump’s embattled defense nominee has faced intense grilling from Democrats on his qualifications for the position, as well as personal questions about his drinking habits and alleged sexual misconduct, which he has vigorously denied. Hegseth has said he would abstain from alcohol if confirmed.
Hegseth’s nomination faced another hurdle this week when reports emerged that his ex-sister-in-law alleged that Hegseth had abused his second wife.
Two sources told CNN Hegseth’s ex-wife, Samantha Hegseth, gave a statement to the FBI about Hegseth’s alleged alcohol use. The outlet said one of the sources said Samantha Hegseth told the FBI, ‘He drinks more often than he doesn’t.’
On Tuesday, Fox News obtained an affidavit from Hegseth’s former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, which alleges he has an alcohol abuse problem and at times made his ex-wife, Samantha, fear for her safety. Danielle Hegseth was previously married to Pete Hegseth’s brother and has no relation to Samantha.
But Danielle Hegseth added that she never witnessed any abuse herself, physical or sexual, by Pete against Samantha.
Samantha Hegseth has also denied any physical abuse in a statement to NBC News.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed Hegseth at a news conference on Thursday and urged Republicans to join Democrats in opposition to the former Fox News host and Army national guardsman.
‘Hegseth is so utterly unqualified, he ranks up there [as] … one of the very worst nominees that could be put forward,’ Schumer said.
‘People’s lives depend on it — civilians and, of course, the men and women in the armed services — and Pete Hegseth has shown himself not only incapable of running a large organization, he often shows himself incapable of showing up or showing up in a way where he could get anything done. He is so out of the mainstream and so unqualified for DOD that I am hopeful we will get our Republican colleagues to join us.’
Mullin predicted that once Hegseth is confirmed, Democrats will turn their attention to another of Trump’s nominees, Tulsi Gabbard, who is the president’s choice to be director of national intelligence.
‘I think they’re going to turn their attention from Pete straight to Tulsi Gabbad,’ Mullin said, noting that Gabbard’s confirmation hearing is scheduled for next week. ‘They went from Matt Gaetz to Pete Hegseth. Now they’re going to go to Tulsi, and then after that I’m sure they’ll probably move on to [health secretary nominee] Bobby Kennedy.’
The Oklahoma Republican also suggested that Democratic senators who may harbor presidential ambitions stand to gain from making a show of opposition to Trump’s nominees.
‘You have all these Democrat senators now that are jumping up and down wanting attention so they can be the champion of the Democrat Party. What they don’t realize is the position they took underneath Biden and when Trump was in office is exactly why they got kicked out of office.’
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.