As President-elect Trump and his transition team steer Cabinet nominees through the minefield of the Senate confirmation process, MAGA’s leading allies are also joining the fight by putting pressure on Republicans who aren’t completely on board. .
“There are no resources we won’t use to go after U.S. senators who vote against Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other nominees,” said Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s longtime outside adviser. he told Fox News this week.
Buoyed by grassroots support for Trump and his candidates, the president-elect’s political team and their allies are accelerating their efforts.
Exhibit A: Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa.
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Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on October 17, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Ernst, the first female veteran elected to the Senate, is seen as a crucial vote in the confirmation battle over President Trump’s defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth, an Army National Guard soldier who served in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and until last month served as a longtime Fox News host, has been the focus of numerous media reports highlighting a series of alcohol and sexual misconduct allegations. are. as a report alleges he mismanaged a veterans nonprofit he once led.
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Hegseth denies the allegations of abusing the woman, but reached a financial settlement with his accuser in a 2017 incident to avoid litigation. He vowed not to drink “a single drop of alcohol” if he is confirmed as defense secretary.
President-elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, gives a thumbs up as he walks with his wife, Jennifer, to meet with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at the Capitol. . Monday in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Mr. Ernst, a member of the Armed Services Committee that will hold Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation hearing, came under much criticism after publicly expressing hesitation about Mr. Hegseth’s nomination last week.
President Trump publicly praised Hegseth late last week, but as the nomination appeared to be on the rocks, the president-elect’s most prominent allies turned to Ernst, who is up for re-election in 2026 in the red state of Iowa. I set my aim.
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Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s eldest son and MAGA heavyweight, took to social media to target Ernst and other potentially swing Republican senators.
“If you’re a Republican senator who voted for Lloyd Austin (President Biden’s secretary of defense) and criticize @PeteHegseth, you might be in the wrong party!” he posted. .
Charlie Kirk speaks during the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on July 15. (Reuters/Mike Seeger)
MAGA ally Charlie Kirk quickly set his sights on Ernst and offered to support her primary challenger.
“This is a red line. This is no joke. … The money is already being raised. Donors are calling like crazy. The primaries will begin,” said the influential conservative activist. said Kirk, who is also a radio and television host. -Establishes and operates Turning Point USA.
Kirk said on his radio show, “If you support the president’s policies, you’re fine. The primaries are marked fine. Don’t be surprised if you face off against the president, Pete Hegseth, multiple times.” he warned. Joni Ernst, if you were suddenly faced with a big challenge in Iowa. ”
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Byrd, who was a prominent supporter of President Trump in the nation’s first presidential caucuses last January, wrote a column for Breitbart urging Hegseth’s confirmation.
Byrd did not mention Ernst by name, but said, “DC believes it can ignore the voices of voters and entertain slander from the same media that has been pushing lies for years.” targeted politicians.
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And longtime Iowa-based conservative commentator and media personality Steve Diese has used social media and his radio show to consider a primary challenge to Ernst. He emphasized that
Mr. Ernst, who remained neutral in the Iowa caucuses before endorsing Mr. Trump later in the Republican presidential primary calendar, may have gotten the message.
After a second meeting with Hegseth earlier this week, Ernst said in a statement that his meeting with Hegseth was “reassuring” and that he would “support Pete through this process.”
However, Ernst’s office told Fox News: “The senator has consistently followed the process he has advocated from the beginning and is carrying out his duties as a United States senator.”
Ernst is not alone in facing attacks from Trump allies and the MAGA community.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) attends a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on August 5, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the four remaining Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in the 2021 impeachment trial, is also up for re-election in 2026 in a reliably red state. be. Cassidy currently faces a formal primary challenge from Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, a senior adviser in the first Trump administration.
Another Republican, Sen. Mike Rounds, who is seeking reelection in Republican-dominated South Dakota in two years, has also been heavily criticized by Kirk and Trump ally billionaire Elon Musk.
And Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, an avid Trump supporter, issued a warning to his Republican Senate colleagues who may oppose the president-elect’s nominee.
“Republicans, if you’re not on the team, stay out of the way,” he told FOX Business.
It remains to be seen whether these early threats from Trump allies will actually become a major issue in the upcoming midterm elections. And expelling a senator is no easy task. It’s been more than a decade since a sitting senator was defeated in a primary election.
But after the president-elect’s first attorney general nominee, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), withdrew his confirmation bid amid controversy, Trump’s team and allies took a hard line. is taking.
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In an effort to protect Mr. Hegseth and some of the controversial names the president-elect has appointed to his Cabinet, there have been reports supporting Mr. Hegseth throughout the court over Mr. Trump’s political line.
“If the Trump world had allowed a few establishment senators to veto a second nominee, it would have led to a frenzy for Trump’s other nominees. “The idea in the world was that we had to protect Pete, not just to protect Pete, but also to protect the other candidates,” said President Trump, who requested anonymity to speak more freely. a longtime adviser told Fox News.
FOX News’ Emma Colton, Cameron Cawthorn, Julia Johnson, Tyler Olson and Chad Purgram contributed to this report.
