WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the US Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, pushed ahead on Wednesday with his bid for the job amid doubts in the Senate over allegations about his personal and professional life.
Even as Hegseth made his case to Republican lawmakers whose support he’d need to be confirmed as defense secretary, Trump was considering alternates, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis emerging as an option, according to two sources familiar with internal deliberations.
Republican Representative Mike Waltz, whom Trump had previously tapped to be White House national security adviser, was another potential pick, a third source told Reuters. Another source said Republican Senator Joni Ernst could also be in the running for the job.
A former Fox News personality and former National Guard officer, Hegseth has faced a wave of allegations since Trump tapped him, including one of sexual assault, which he denied; media reports of public inebriation while working; and claims of financial mismanagement at prior jobs.
“I have some very real concerns about some things that have come out recently and I want to ask him about that,” Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said on Wednesday. Republicans will have a 53-47 Senate majority, meaning that Hegseth could afford to lose the support of just three fellow Republicans and still be confirmed.
During a break between meetings with lawmakers, Hegseth told the Megyn Kelly radio show, “I’ve never had a drinking problem” but would nonetheless not drink alcohol if confirmed as defense secretary. He said he spoke on Wednesday morning with Trump, who urged him to keep fighting.
Hegseth is not the first Trump Cabinet pick to run into difficulties. Former Representative Matt Gaetz dropped his bid for attorney general last month in the face of questions among Senate Republicans about alleged sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl and drug use. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing.
Trump’s pick to head the Drug Enforcement Administration, Chad Chronister, dropped his bid on Tuesday after pushback from some Republicans for the Florida sheriff’s actions during the early days of the COVID pandemic.
Trump said on Wednesday on social media of Chronister, “He didn’t pull out. I pulled him out.”
Senator John Thune, who will lead Senate Republicans next year, told reporters he would meet with Hegseth on Wednesday, as would other Senate Republicans.
“He’s going to have an opportunity to address all the questions that have been raised, and there are some hard questions being raised. So he’ll have to answer those,” Thune said.
Hegseth was also set to meet with Ernst, a military veteran and sexual assault survivor, on Wednesday. That talk is seen as key to his prospects, according to a person familiar with the process.
Hegseth also met with Republican Senator Roger Wicker, who is in line to chair the Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Defense Department, next year.
“I don’t see any obstacles that can’t be overcome,” Wicker told reporters afterward.
A wave of media reports has raised questions about Hegseth.
Hegseth has denied allegations made in a police report that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017 at a conference in California. The woman said that while drinking with colleagues, she may have been drugged and was then sexually assaulted by a man she later identified as Hegseth, according to the report.
No charges were filed, and he entered into a private settlement with the alleged victim.
NBC News cited 10 current and former Fox employees in a report on Tuesday that Hegseth’s drinking of alcohol concerned co-workers at the television network, including showing up at work smelling of alcohol and talking about being hung over.
The New York Times last month reported on an email Hegseth’s mother wrote him in 2018 in which she accused him of mistreating women, including lying, cheating, sleeping around and using women for “his own power and ego.”
Hegseth’s mother told the Times in an interview that she had sent Hegseth an immediate follow-up email at the time apologizing for what she had written and that she “disavows the sentiments she had expressed in the initial email about his character and treatment of women.”
On Sunday the New Yorker, citing documents and accounts of former colleagues, reported that Hegseth was forced to step down by the two nonprofit advocacy groups he ran after “serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.”
The article said Hegseth’s lawyer declined to comment on the claims, which he described as “outlandish.”
Hegseth did not respond to a request for comment sent through the Trump transition office. Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment. A DeSantis representative also did not respond to a request for comment.
A source confirmed that Trump and DeSantis had spoken about the Pentagon job and that DeSantis was considering it.
Trump’s Pentagon nominee Hegseth pushes ahead amid doubts
https://arab.news/j4s4c
Trump’s Pentagon nominee Hegseth pushes ahead amid doubts
- Hegseth has faced a wave of allegations since Trump tapped him
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has emerged as an option
Pickup truck driver killed by police after driving through Texas mall and injuring 5
- The truck crashed into the department store in Killeen, 109 kilometers north of the state capital Austin
- Emergency medical services transported four victims to area hospitals and another traveled to a hospital separately
The truck crashed into the department store in Killeen, about 68 miles (109 kilometers) north of the state capital Austin, around 5:30 p.m. Saturday and continued into the building, striking people as it went, Sgt. Bryan Washko of the Texas Department of Public Safety said in an evening news briefing.
Emergency medical services transported four victims from the mall to area hospitals and another traveled to a hospital separately. They ranged in age from 6 to 75 years old and their conditions were not immediately known, he said.
The chase began around 5 p.m. on Interstate 14 in Belton, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Killeen, after authorities received calls about an erratic driver in a black pickup, Ofelia Miramontez of the Killeen Police Department said.
The driver then pulled off the road and drove into the parking lot of the mall.
“The suspect drove through the doors and continued to drive through the JCPenney store, striking multiple people,” Washko said. “The trooper and the Killeen police officer continued on foot after this vehicle, which was driving through the store, actively running people over. He traveled several hundred yards.”
Officers from the state public safety department, Killeen and three other law enforcement agencies “engaged in gunfire to eliminate this threat,” Washko said.
One of the officers who traded gunfire with the suspect was working as a security guard at the mall and others were off duty, he said.
Washko did not have information about the suspect’s identity at the time of the briefing.
Witnesses interviewed by local news outlets outside the mall said they heard multiple gunshots and saw people fleeing through the mall.
India child marriage crackdown reaches nearly 5,000 arrests
- India is home to more than 220 million child brides, according to the United Nations
- The legal marriage age in India is 18 but millions of children are forced to tie the knot when they are younger
GUWAHATI, India: A crackdown on illegal child marriages in India’s northeast has resulted in nearly 5,000 arrests, after 416 people were detained in the latest police sweep, a minister said Sunday.
“We will continue to take bold steps to end this social evil,” Himanta Biswa Sarma, chief minister of Assam state, said in a statement.
“Assam continues its fight against child marriage,” he added, saying raids have been carried out overnight and that those arrested would be produced in court on Sunday.
India is home to more than 220 million child brides, according to the United Nations, but the number of child weddings has fallen dramatically this century.
Assam state had already arrested thousands in earlier abolition drives that began in February 2023, including parents of married couples and registrars who signed off on underage betrothals.
It takes the total now arrested to more than 4,800 people.
Sarma has campaigned on a platform of stamping out child marriages completely in his state by 2026.
The legal marriage age in India is 18 but millions of children are forced to tie the knot when they are younger, particularly in poorer rural areas.
Many parents marry off their children in the hope of improving their financial security.
The results can be devastating, with girls dropping out of school to cook and clean for their husbands, and suffering health problems from giving birth at a young age.
In a landmark 2017 judgment, India’s top court said that sex with an underage wife constituted rape, a ruling cheered by activists.
Russian defense ministry says it downed 42 Ukrainian drones overnight
- The heads of the Rostov and Bryansk regions said there were no casualties or damage after the latest drone attacks
MOSCOW: Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday its air defense systems destroyed 42 Ukrainian drones over five Russian regions during the night.
Twenty drones were shot down over the Oryol region, eight drones each were destroyed in the Rostov and Bryansk regions, five in the Kursk region and one over Krasnodar Krai, the ministry said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
One attack triggered a fire at a fuel infrastructure facility in the village of Stalnoi Kon, said Andrei Klychkov, the governor of Oryol.
“Fortunately, thanks to the quick response, the consequences of the attack were avoided — the fire was promptly localized and is now fully extinguished. There were no casualties or significant damage,” he said.
It was the second week in a row where fuel infrastructure facilities in Oryol have been attacked.
The heads of the Rostov and Bryansk regions said there were no casualties or damage after the latest drone attacks.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.
China says US is ‘playing with fire’ after latest military aid for Taiwan
- US President Joe Biden authorized Saturday the provision of up to $571 million for Taiwan
- Separately, the Defense Department said Friday that $295 million in military sales had been approved
BEIJING: The Chinese government protested Sunday the latest American announcements of military sales and assistance to Taiwan, warning the United States that it is “playing with fire.”
US President Joe Biden authorized Saturday the provision of up to $571 million in Defense Department material and services and in military education and training for Taiwan. Separately, the Defense Department said Friday that $295 million in military sales had been approved.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement urged the US to stop arming Taiwan and stop what it called “dangerous moves that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
Taiwan is a democratic island of 23 million people that the Chinese government claims as its territory and says must come under its control. US military sales and assistance aim to help Taiwan defend itself and deter China from launching an attack.
The $571 million in military assistance comes on top of Biden’s authorization of $567 million for the same purposes in late September. The military sales include $265 million for about 300 tactical radio systems and $30 million for 16 gun mounts.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the approval of the two sales, saying in a social media post on X that it reaffirmed the US government’s “commitment to our defense.”
New hope for flight MH370 families as Malaysia agrees to resume search
- Plane carrying 239 people went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014
- Families say they hope new search operation will offer ‘long-awaited answers and closure’
KUALA LUMPUR: The families of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 passengers have welcomed with renewed hope the announcement of a new search for the aircraft, which disappeared more than 10 years ago in one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.
Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014.
The search became the most expensive operation in aviation history but ended inconclusively in 2018, leaving the families of those on board still haunted by the tragedy.
On Friday, Malaysia’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced that he hoped to “give closure to the families” as the government agreed to allow private contractor Ocean Infinity, which was the last to try to locate the plane, to resume search efforts.
He told reporters that the operation would focus on a new area spanning 15,000 sq. km in the southern Indian Ocean — a development raising hope among relatives of passengers and crew aboard flight MH370.
“The significance of this renewed search cannot be overstated. For the families of passengers, the scientific community and global civil aviation safety, it offers renewed hope for long-awaited answers and closure,” Voice 370, the association representing them, said in a statement.
“We, the next of kin, have endured over a decade of uncertainty, and we hope that the terms of the renewed search are finalized at the earliest and the decks are cleared for the search to begin.
“We continue to hope that our wait for answers is met.”
Ocean Infinity, the private underwater exploration firm that will undertake the $70 million search, was briefly involved in the 2018 efforts after a three-year operation covering 120,000 sq. km of the Indian Ocean failed to locate the aircraft and was suspended in 2017.
The new agreement was met on a no-find, no-fee basis, meaning that Ocean Infinity will be paid only when the wreckage is found.
“We are encouraged by Ocean Infinity’s readiness to deploy their advanced fleet, including sophisticated vessels, AUVs and cutting-edge imaging technologies,” Voice 370 said.
“We gather that the company has followed this up with thorough due diligence, analyzing all available data, and alternative scenarios proposed by independent researchers and recommendations on potential search areas.”
Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of March 8, 2014 and lost communication with air traffic control less than an hour later. Military radar showed the aircraft had deviated from its planned path. It remains unclear why that happened.
Many conspiracy theories have emerged to explain the aircraft’s disappearance, ranging from suspicions of the captain’s suicide to concerns over the 221 kg of lithium-ion batteries in the plane’s cargo, as well as the involvement of passengers, two of whom were found traveling on stolen passports.
When the probe was suspended, Kok Soo Chon, head of the MH370 safety investigation team, told reporters in July 2018 that his team was “unable to determine the real cause for disappearance of MH370” and “the answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage is found.”
