Pete Hegseth Was Toast. The MAGA Swarm Came to His Rescue.

from New York Times I'm Michael Babar. this is the. [Music]. daily over the past few weeks the. resistance of a single Republican. senator has threatened to derail Donald. Trump's controversial choice of Pete. Heth to run the Department of Defense. today Karin deeran and Jonathan Swan. with the story of how Trump and his. allies ensured that that senator's.

resistance quickly went. [Music]. [Applause]. away it's Monday December. [Music]. 16th Karen in your role as a. congressional reporter you have been. close tracking the fate of Trump's pick.

to run the US military Pete Heth a pick. that was controversial from the start. but has become only more controversial. over the past couple of weeks right I. think everyone was pretty surprised when. president-elect Trump picked a Fox News. host to be his next secretary of defense. and the surprise turned into discomfort. for a lot of people and shock as. allegations started coming out about. these fairly sorted details from his.

past first it was an accusation that he. had committed sexual assault and then. after that it became this article from. The New Yorker which alleged that he was. drinking on the job and harassing female. employees and was mismanaging the. veterans nonprofits that he was running. in the middle of all that there was this. email that cropped up that his mother. had written him in 2018 calling him an. abuser of women and telling him what a. reprehensible person he was and so as. that mountain of allegations grew there.

started to be more Senators including. some of Trump's allies who started to. express real discomfort with having to. back this guy or at least with the fact. that they were having to to Grapple with. these allegations and you know calling. them disturbing calling them Troublesome. and that's a problem for Trump because. even though Senate Republicans are going. to take the majority in the New Year. it's a very slim majority they cannot. afford to lose more than three of their. own if they actually want to get these. nominees confirmed and if becomes clear.

that there's really one senator who has. the potential to swing things one way or. another it's a senator whose whole brand. basically has been built on these issues. around which Heth is having problems. with these allegations and that Senator. is Joanie Ernst of. Iowa well just explain that tell us. about Senator Joanie Ernst and how her. career ends up so at odds with hex so.

when Johnny erns runs for the Senate a. decade ago a centerpiece of her campaign. is the fact that she's a combat veteran. and she's one of the first generation of. female combat veterans and she's. actually becomes the first female combat. veteran to serve in the Senate there. have been others since but she breaks. that glass ceiling that becomes a big. part of her resume and a reason that. people look to her on defense issues a. couple years later she talks about how. she was a victim of sexual assault and. this becomes this very you know raw.

disclosure that she writes about in her. Memoir that is discussed publicly and. she becomes a figure again you know rare. in the Republican party that a woman. would step forward and start to discuss. this all very personally thank you. Senator Henrik Senator. Ern thank you Mr chair um General. heighton you have been nominated to be. the second highest ranking military. officer in the united in 2019 she breaks. with her party to oppose the nomination. of John heighton who's up to become Vice. chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff I. have reviewed the evidence as well as.

your performance while serving as the. stratcom commander he's been accused by. a subordinate of sexual assault and her. whole party waves him through and she. says no I'm not going to do that the. facts have left me with concerns. regarding your judgment leadership and. fitness to serve as the next Vice. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff so. two years after that she's joining with. Kiren Jill brand to Rally support for a. bill that is trying to address how. sexual ual assault cases in the military.

are adjudicated it had been in the chain. of command for ever and they were trying. to take it out of the chain of command. so that victims wouldn't have their. cases basically muzzled if it was. inconvenient to their unit and she. really opens the floodgates for more. Republicans to say okay I'm on board. with this abuse is not something you can. just simply. forget it stays with you. forever and I know this personally and. so she basically builds this brand where.

people look to her in the GOP and. Democrats consider her a partner and an. ally for talking about these issues of. women's experience in the military for. bringing to light various sexual assault. [Music]. issues and then Trump picks Heth who is. accused of sexually assaulting and. harassing women and oh by the way has. said publicly he doesn't believe women. should serve in combat roles and Johny. erns is a combat veteran so there's just. a lot a tension and clashing there.

between her resume and what she stands. for and the allegations against him and. the problems that are associated with. his pick well so given her role as a. Republican leader on all of these issues. issues that do not seem to align with. hex biography and these accusations that. he faces what is er's response to Heth. being tapped to run the military well. the day that Heth is announced to. Trump's pick I caught her in the hallway.

of the basement of the capital and asked. her what she thought and she said he's. going to have his work cut out for him. at that point we didn't even know all. these allegations against him but as the. allegations began to mount she became. that much more Resolute of I will talk. to him but very very clearly not saying. anything nice about him and this all. leads to a whole lot of scrutiny and. focus on the first inperson meeting they. have Heth goes to her office for a sit. down and comes out and he talks to.

reporters but she doesn't really say. anything else except for okay we met uh. yesterday you had a significant meeting. with uh Pete heg Seth our former. colleague and right now and then she. goes on Fox News the next morning and. the host kind of has to drag it out of. her but he basically after asking her. about the meeting he says okay it. doesn't sound on your answer that you've. gotten to a yes if I'm wrong about that. it doesn't sound like you got to yes yet. and she says that's right I think you. are right I think for a number of our.

Senators they want to make sure that any. allegations have been cleared and that's. why we have to have a very thorough. vetting process and that's why I was. happy to sit down with Pete and have. that conversation with him which is. pretty big confession of uneasiness and. it just kind of confirms what everybody. was sensing which is that she's not okay. with this guy so quite understandably. this senator who has led her party on. all these issues like sexual assault.

is deciding that these accusations. against him might be disqualifying and. she's saying so on of all networks Fox. News which she and everyone else in the. Republican Party know that the. president-elect watches so closely. correct and what Ernst is expressing is. something that a lot of people in the. GOP are starting to feel and worry about. and AIDS start to whisper that you know. this nomination might just be dead. already because if Jon Ern can't get to. yes how can other people cross her she's.

been such a moral leader on these issues. that are of concern to. Heth and so that's trickling up to the. Trump team and there's this General. sense that if they can't get Ernst on. board then Heth really doesn't have a. path to being. confirmed after the break my colleague. Jonathan Swan on how erns resistance. triggered a manga swarm that has brought. hegf back from the.

brink we'll be right. back so Jonathan as heth's path becomes. Messier and Messier and he's kind of. just flapping in the wind there with. Senators like Joanie Ernst saying she. can't get behind him what's happening. inside Trump World.

well Trump himself is starting to have. second thoughts about heg I was actually. in Palm Beach two weeks ago when this is. all happening meeting with Trump. officials talking to advisers of his. and I can't overstate to you how. Universal The View was in Trump's Inner. Circle that heg Seth was done H Donald. Trump was criticizing him behind his. back saying you know he could have told.

me about all this stuff you know he was. seeing the negative stories he wasn't. happy about them and so Trump actually. starts to think about picking a. replacement for Heth the ultimate sign. that he's done with you totally and he. started to court Ronda santis and we. should just say that is surprising not. just because it means Trump is writing. off Pete hex but because he has hated. Des santz I mean d Sant ran against him.

they destroyed him in that campaign that. is a very unexpected alternative they. didn't only defeat him it was personal. as you say and for many people on. Trump's team it's deeply personal they. Susie WS who's going to come in as. Trump's chief of staff used to work for. Ronda santis left on very bad terms with. him there are others on the team who. used to work for him none of them like. Ronda santis so as soon as Trump's. advisers realized that he's actually.

serious about the disantis idea there is. a panic many people go into gear of how. do we kill this at the same time there. are others in Trump's orbit some of the. same people but different people like. Steve banon and and others who thought. that there was actually something larger. at play that if he allowed Pete Heth to. be blocked by Senate. Republicans that would set the tone for.

the rest of his administration that was. the argument that they were making to. Trump indirectly in some cases directly. but basically what they were saying was. you already let one person go Matt Gates. Matt Gates Right Trump put up Matt gates. for attorney general which horrified. Republicans and within a very short. period of time it became clear that he. wasn't going to have the votes and he. quit people like Steve Bannon and others. in Trump's orbit thought that was a. really bad message they thought at a. minimum strategically they should have.

kept Matt gates in because him soaking. up all the media attention and. controversy actually is useful because. Trump has a whole bunch of other. controversial picks and they can slide. through with less media attention but. also letting him quit was a bad idea in. terms of setting the terms of Trump's. return to Washington in terms of the. power template in terms of trump saying. I'm the king around here so what what. they wanted to do with hegf they decided.

very quickly like within 24 hours was. we're going to turn him into a cause. we're going to make him sort of a Brett. kavanau type figure and we are going to. make this a litus test for Republicans. defying Donald Trump and if you dare. step out of line the mob is going to. come for you the online mob the pressure. the constituents we are going to make. you toxic with the Republican base so. what might have begun as a bunch of. people around Trump kind of revolting.

against the idea of Ronda santis as the. next secretary of defense morphs into. this larger objection to the idea that. Trump would back down again on one of. his pcks for the cabinet and show. weakness in a way that might completely. shape his presidency exactly so what. does it actually look like once team. Trump decides we are not going to back. down and actually we're going to go on.

the offense here well two things. happened one Pete Heth and his team. decide they're going to abandon the sort. of traditional Washington Playbook of. keeping your head down talking to. Senators but not making this a huge. spectacle Trump wanted to see a. spectacle he he he picked Heth in the. first place cuz he liked watching him on. Fox News so Trump encouraged heith to. get out there what you're seeing right. now with me is the art of the smear it. is the classic art of the smear heg Seth.

does these sort of defiant interviews. and performances take whatever tiny. kernels of Truth and there are t tiny. tiny ones in there and blow them up into. a masquerade of a narrative about. somebody that I am definitely not and. what they never and Pete's mother. Penelope heg head joins us live on the. set to tell us what uh she wanted to. tell us you called us yesterday and you. said you wanted to come on I did I said. his mother. goes on Fox and Friends is I am here to.

tell the truth to the American people. and tell the truth to the Senators on. the hill especially our female senators. in this highly unusual performance and I. wrote that in haste I wrote that with. Deep Emotions I wrote that as a parent. where she renounces a letter she sent. him in 2018 where she took him to task. for his treatment of women I don't. believe any of that is true uh any of it.

and I'm here I wouldn't be sitting on. this in this chair today if I didn't. believe that about my son right and then. the second part is basically you know. it's an intimidation strategy it's we. need to get our most powerful allies in. terms of who has the biggest following. with the Republican base who are most. effective at whipping up anger and. emotion in the base and set them onto. the wavering. senators and Senator Joanie Ernst of.

Iowa became their number one target she. was seen as the biggest problem so all. pressure was focused on her obviously. others too but she was the focal point. and what does it look like for Senator. Ernst to be the focus of of this. [Music]. campaign you are in for another tea. party Revolution.

we're getting tired of this you had. influential Maga figures with huge. audiences I mean these people have. millions and you know millions of. followers between them Senator Ern just. got to understand I mean you got to get. with the program here people like Steve. Bannon this is the Red Line This is not. this is not a joke everybody the funding. the radio host Charlie cook uh and look. I get it that Senators got their various. processes that they got to go through. that's fine that's all well and good but. eventually they got to get to the point. where they can say s And the breb.

reporter Matt Bo Senator erns is the big. one here Jonie erns from Iowa all these. people they all start going after her. you go up against Pete heg the president. repeatedly then don't be surprised Joan. ER all you got a primary challenge in. Iowa don't be surprised people like Kirk. were threatening to recruit a primary. Challenger against remember she's going. to be running again in 2026 so this. carries real weight the funing has. already been put together donors are.

calling like crazy primaries are going. to be launched I mean it it's feral. nothing is off the table get on the. phone and start tweeting at Joanie ER. they sent threatening posts on social. media they urged their listeners on. their radio shows to pressure Ernst and. to call her Congressional office get on. the phone folks this stuff. matters and that then kicks off this. whole movement and it gets really.

personal and close to home you had. people online scraping up information. about her ostensibly from her divorce. and making it public this is what I mean. by. feral you know Brena bird who's the. popular Attorney General of Iowa she. writes this opinion column in Breitbart. News saying that Washington politicians. are trying to obstruct Trump's. Administration and she didn't mention. erst but her message was very clear I. mean coming from someone of her stature.

in the state that was a really big. deal and then you had the money side. America needs a defense secretary who. knows what it means to fight so you have. this dark money group that Elon Musk has. used for political spending that group. starts running digital ads in Iowa call. your Senator today and urge them to. confirm Pete Heth her Secretary of. Defense calling on people to urge their.

Senator to vote for. Heth and no prizes for guessing which. Senator the ads were referring to right. so it's all of the above it's the threat. of big money coming in against you you. know with with musk and his billionaire. friends it's people in the state that. have real power Brena bird and then it's. the most influential figures on the. right who have real followings and have. the ability to activate the most intense. faction within the Trump base very.

unpleasant it makes your life miserable. if you're a sitting Senator and that's. what comes down on you right and the. message that they're sending her via. this Onslaught from all sides seems to. be Senator Ernst if you like being in. the US Senate as a republican from Iowa. if you don't want us to find someone to. run against you if you don't want your. phones ringing off the hook and are. Trump maab base turning against you you.

should probably just find a way to get. behind Pete Heth as Secretary of Defense. cuz then all this will probably go away. that's right and none of these people. would say this but it's absolutely a. fact that when pressure campaigns like. this happen there's the fear of some. crazy supporter committing an act of. violence or coming up to you and. harassing you in person I mean it's a. factor it's a factor in this era so how.

does Ernst respond to all of this I mean. I've seen these pressure campaigns. before from Trump's movement and this. might be the fastest effect that I've. ever. seen met with defense secretary nominee. Pete Heth for a second time within 72. hours after this campaign really kicked. off she meets with him again and she. puts out this statement and her language.

was unrecognizable quote following our. encouraging conversations Pete committed. to completing a full audit of the. Pentagon and selecting a senior official. who will uphold the roles and value of. our servicemen and women he will. continue she says to support the roles. of both servicemen and women as I. support Pete through this process and as. I support Pete through this process so. that's very different she's now saying. she's supporting him through this.

process the second half of the statement. was even more remarkable I look forward. to a fair hearing based on truth not. Anonymous sources I look forward to a. hearing based on truth not Anonymous. sources so that those last three words. those are the talking points of the. Trump team mhm I mean to say a hearing. based on truth not Anonymous sources. you're essentially setting up two. categories you're saying there are. statements that are true and there are. statements or accusations made by.

Anonymous sources that are therefore. false and so by doing that given that. the accusations against Pete heg are. from Anonymous sources you you are. invalidating on its face the accusations. against Pete. Heth and the fact that she's willing to. support me through this process means a. lot and pretty quickly we saw heg Seth. make some comments that indicate that he. seems to believe he's got her vote and I.

also want an opportunity here to clarify. comments that have been misconstrued. that I somehow don't support women in. the military now it's worth noting in. this statement heg Seth also seemed to. back off his earlier position about not. supporting women in the military some of. our greatest warriors our best warriors. out there are women and Ern says this is. based on a pledge he made to her in that. second meeting it it's all a little. vague but essentially this is why she. claims she's softening her position on.

him that he's made concessions on issues. that matter to her and to be clear she's. still not coming right out and saying he. absolutely has her vote but she. certainly seems to have reversed course. and put herself in a situation where at. this point it's very hard to imagine her. backing out she would if she did that be. a pariah with the Maga Bas they would. make sure of that and just from her. action so far it seems pretty clear that. she wants to stay on the right side of.

the Trump movement mhm so this ends up. becoming a pretty extraordinary. demonstration of the president- elect's. power absolutely and and when I talk to. people close to president-elect Trump. and and people who work for him people. on the outside. allies they already see this as a. resounding. success you know they will say look who. knows maybe more accus will come out. against Pete he maybe we end up losing.

four senators and he goes down but even. if that happens they see this as a. cautionary tale for. Republicans they are putting Republicans. on notice that they're not going to. tolerate dissent they're not going to. tolerate opposition to Donald Trump. during his return to Washington and by. making such a fight of this by publicly. forcing these Senators to bend the KNE. they are creating a template for what.

we're likely to see next year As Trump. tries to pass legislation as he. inevitably does controversial things. that will make some Senators squeamish. the Trump team is sending out the. message now there will be a very steep. cost if you go against Donald. Trump well Jonathan thank you very much. thanks for having me. [Music].

on Sunday the Republican campaign to. Rally support for Pete Heth continued. Senator Lindsey Graham a close Trump. Ally said that hegseth has agreed to. release the woman who accused him of. sexual assault from a confidential legal. settlement that Graham told NBC News. would allow him accuser to come forward.

publicly with her allegations and let. Senators evaluate whether or not they. are true he's given me his side of the. story it makes sense to me I believe him. unless somebody's willing to come. forward I think he's going to get. [Music]. through we'll be right back. [Music].

here's what else you need to know day. over the weekend South Korea's. legislature voted to impeach the. country's leader president Yun sakol as. punishment for his decision to impose. martial law on the country. [Applause]. the vote which immediately strips Yun of.

his presidential Powers was met with. cheers in the streets of South Korea's. [Applause]. capital yun's martial law decree issued. on December 3rd lasted only 6 hours but. it threw South Korea's democracy into. chaos and triggered massive public. protests yun's fate now rests with South. Korea's constitutional Court which will. decide within the next six months.

whether to reinstate or formally remove. him from. Office today's episode was produced by. Rob zipco Luke Vander pluk and AA chv. with help from Nina Feldman it was. edited by Rachel quer and Devin Taylor. contains original music by Dan poell Pat. mccusker and Maran Lozano and was. engineered by Chris Wood our theme music. is by Jim brunberg and Ben lansburg of.

[Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Michael. B see you tomorrow. [Music].