Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, is the “biggest casualty” of an agreement between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Trump’s transition team, according to legal analyst Harry Litman.
Trump’s team announced on Tuesday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with President Joe Biden’s DOJ that will allow the FBI to conduct background checks before the president-elect’s Cabinet picks are confirmed by the Senate.
The transition team previously indicated that it would attempt to avoid involving the FBI and instead use a private vetting process. Blocking the bureau, which Trump has repeatedly claimed is “weaponized” against him, would upend a long-standing precedent in the Cabinet vetting process.
Litman, a former federal prosecutor, argued on Tuesday that Hegseth’s chances of being confirmed took a major hit with the signing of the MOU. The legal analyst suggested that Hegseth would not pass a traditional background check by the FBI.
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“Biggest casualty of agreement between Trump and DOJ/FBI for background checks is Hegseth, who senators can more or less insist go through background investigation and don’t see how he survives it,” Litman wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Trump transition team via email on Tuesday night.
Hegseth is among Trump’s most controversial remaining Cabinet nominees and could face a difficult path to confirmation in the Senate even if he undergoes and passes an FBI background check.
Criticisms of Hegseth include doubts on his qualifications to lead the Department of Defense, claims about being “drunk” on the job and accusations that he’s an “extremist” or a “white supremacist” due to tattoos associated with right-wing nationalist groups.
While Republicans will hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate next month, the biggest hurdle facing Hegseth’s confirmation may be an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman following a California Federation of Republican Women convention in October 2017.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told CBS News on Tuesday that he thought the allegations against Hegseth were “disturbing” and suggested that his confirmation would be “difficult,” while also saying that the nominee “obviously has a chance to defend himself.”
The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday night that Trump was considering ditching Hegseth due to the controversy and nominating Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the Cabinet position instead.
A Trump transition team spokesperson told Newsweek earlier on Tuesday that the president-elect “stands firmly behind Pete as his Secretary of Defense nominee, recognizing his service to our nation and his dedication to putting America First.”
The spokesperson went on to say that although the odds of Hegseth becoming the defense secretary “may fluctuate” with online betting website Polymarket, Trump’s “confidence in Pete remains unwavering.”
Polymarket gave Hegseth only a 12 percent chance of becoming the defense secretary at the time of publication. DeSantis was the clear favorite at 39 percent, while Iowa Senator Joni Ernst was the runner-up at 20 percent.
Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, said in a statement on Tuesday that the MOU would “ensure President Trump and his team are ready on Day 1 to begin enacting the America First Agenda that an overwhelming majority of our nation supported on Election Day.”
While the effect of the MOU remains to be seen, the “overwhelming majority” of Americans did not vote for Trump this year. Just under 50 percent of Americans who voted in the election cast ballots for Trump, while another 90 million eligible voters did not participate.
Trump did slightly outperform polls and managed to win the popular vote for the first time. But his margin of victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, around 2.3 million votes, was the smallest in a presidential election since former President George W. Bush’s victory in 2004.
