President-elect Donald Trump ultimately dug in on Pete Hegseth as his defense secretary nominee after efforts to replace him with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis fell short, according to national political correspondent Maggie Haberman.
Hegseth has struggled to garner overwhelming support among Republican senators for his nomination amid reports of alleged excessive drinking and sexual misconduct, prompting Trump and others in his orbit to explore alternative options. One such name was DeSantis, Trump’s former primary challenger and prominent conservative figure.
However, that never culminated into a real nomination, likely because the president-elect “could not find a single person in his orbit, or even really outside of it, who liked this idea,” Haberman said in an interview on CNN.
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