Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told Newsmax on Monday that President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has “the right focus” for the Pentagon.
Rounds said on “Wake Up America” that “part of the challenge for Mr. Hegseth is he's going to have to go in front of the public in public hearings, and he's going to have to share responses to the accusations that are out there.”
Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017, an allegation that the Army war hero and former Fox News host has denied. He has also denied claims that he worked while intoxicated during his time at the network.
Rounds noted that he had a “very refreshing discussion with Mr. Hegseth” last week. “He had the right focus in terms of the way that we want to make the Department of Defense as lethal as possible.”
The senator said, “I also shared with him part of the challenge that he's going to have is visiting with other members and talking about the issues that have been brought to the forefront.”
Rounds said he advised Hegseth to “sit down with the other members” of the Senate and “find out what their issues and so forth are and be prepared for that public hearing.”
He added that Republicans “want him to be successful. I see a path forward for him, but he still got to go through that process. And so I wanted to be as prepared as possible."
Rounds also said that former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who has been nominated to serve as director of national intelligence, and Trump’s other nominees “deserve the benefit of the doubt.”
He added that Gabbard “comes with a great deal of experience” and declined to comment on concerns about her ties to Russia.