Vice President-elect recently defended Donald Trump’s selection for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, which has proven to be a controversial cabinet pick. As anonymous, unproven allegations have surfaced against Hegseth in an attempt to thwart his nomination, Vance sounded off on what he described as a “smear campaign.”
The Ohio senator’s comment was prompted by the controversy involving Hegseth’s acceptance to West Point, where the institution claimed he never applied to the school. However, Hegseth produced his acceptance letter, countering the claims. “We understand that ProPublica (the Left Wing hack group) is planning to publish a knowingly false report that I was not accepted to West Point in 1999. Here’s my letter of acceptance signed by West Point Superintendent, Lieutenant General Daniel Christman, US Army,” Hegseth wrote on X, sharing a picture of his admission letter.
ProPublica editor Jesse Eisinnger wrote in response to Hegseth’s rebuttal, “Hegseth has said that he got into West Point but didn’t attend. We asked West Pt public affairs, which told us twice on the record that he hadn’t even applied there. We reached out. Hegseth’s spox gave us his acceptance letter. We didn’t publish a story. That’s journalism.”
Replying to Eisinger, Vance suggested that the outlet was “misled” in the effort to smear Hegseth and prevent his nomination. “You were misled by a bureaucrat. That’s actually a story, just not the one you wanted to print. The effort to tank Hegseth’s nomination is one of the most coordinated smear campaigns I’ve ever seen in DC,” the vice president-elect wrote.
The American Tribune recently reported on other comments from Vance pertaining to Hegseth during a visit to Western North Carolina, which is still recovering from Hurricane Helene this Fall. “I’ll answer one question about Pete Hegseth, because I know that’s what people are focused on,” he said during a press conference. “Look importantly, Pete Hegeth is going to get his appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, not a sham hearing before the American media,” he said.
Vance also emphasized the confidence the incoming administration has behind Hegseth. “We believe that Pete Hegseth is the right guy to lead the Department of Defense. That’s why President Trump nominated him,” he said. “We’re not abandoning this nomination … Donald J Trump, who just won an election by a very significant consent of the United States Senate, that’s who determines who the Secretary of Defense is. I fully support Pete. I think Pete’s going to get confirmed, and we are completely behind him.”
Vance also stated he has spoken with Republicans who aren’t certain about Hegseth. “I have talked to Joni. I’ve talked to a number of my colleagues about this nomination and about other nominations, all I’m asking is that people actually allow the Senate process to work,” he added. “We do not determine important government officials based on anonymous sourcing from the American media. We determine who our officials are through the nomination process, the advice and consent process of the United States Senate. That’s how it should happen, and that’s how the President’s nominees are going to work through this process,” he said.
Watch Vance 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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