Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) recently addressed a group of reporters expressing his confidence in Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s selection for Secretary of Defense. In the weeks after Trump’s announcement that he would tap Hegseth, there has been substantial controversy surrounding the allegations of sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse brought against the cabinet pick.
However, Cramer, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, noted that the process to get Hegseth confirmed would be challenging as not everyone is supportive of the nominee. Regardless, Cramer noted that he was not bothered by concerns of potential alcohol abuse from Hegseth while maintaining that other “serious allegations” brought against him remain “unproven.”
“I give him the benefit of the doubt,” Cramer said to a group of reporters. “I am ready to be supportive of getting him to that point. I’m ready to get him in front of the committee. I did warn him. I said, ‘you know, not everybody on the committee is as friendly as I am,’ which I don’t think surprised him. But I also said, there’s nobody on the committee that doesn’t earn our respect.”
He continued, “And certainly there are people like Joni Ernst and Tammy Duncan who earn more than I’ll ever earn given their history. So I was very favorably impressed. So I’ve seen no reason at this point to not be supportive of him.” Another reporter asked Cramer about the specifics surrounding the concerns of alcohol abuse, “Can you verify for us senator, is he currently drinking or has he just said he’s not going to drink much alcohol?”
The North Dakota Republican responded, “Well, I didn’t ask him if he’s had a drink today, or if he’s currently drinking. My commitment I was looking for was that he won’t drink … he won’t touch alcohol and that he’d be ready for one call at three in the afternoon or three in the morning and every hour in between which I thought was a good way to put it.”
Furthermore, Cramer emphasized that he trusts Hegseth, but acknowledged the long road to confirmation. “I believe him. Yeah, I mean, I do believe him. No, again, there’s, there’s, you know, we’re not there yet, but yeah, at this point, I see no reason not to support him. Frankly. We’ll see what else happens. But yeah, I want to, I want to be supportive.”
The senator explained that he has been supportive of Hegseth despite the allegations that have not been proven true. “I wanted to be supportive of him from the very beginning. The allegations, as I mentioned to him, and no surprise to him, are serious, but if they remain serious allegations that can’t be verified from anonymous sources then that’s what they’ll end up being,” he said.
Despite the controversy surrounding Hegseth, The American Tribune recently reported on a new endorsement the Secretary of Defense received. Sen. Bill Hagerty recently said, “Pete Hegseth is an inspirational leader in service of our brave men and women in uniform. More and more of my Senate colleagues are learning the same after getting to know him. I support his confirmation 100%.”
Watch Cramer’s comments about Hegseth below:
Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pete_Hegseth_by_Gage_Skidmore_2.jpg
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