Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House communications director under President-elect Donald Trump in his first administration, said Thursday that all of the scrutiny that was focused on Matt Gaetz will get shifted to Pete Hegseth's nomination for Secretary of Defense.
Farah Griffin said Hegseth has an "uphill battle" to confirmation in an interview with CNN.
"I think now that Matt Gaetz is out of the running, all of the Senate's eyes are focused on this gentleman," she said.
At issue for Hegseth, Farah Griffin asserted, is that the allegations of sexual misconduct against him (strongly denied by him), combined with critics' contention that he's "deeply unqualified" for the job might be too much to overcome, even though Trump has "genuine affection" for the former Fox News host.
"This is [Trump's] hand-picked choice, but the sexual allegations aside, he's deeply unqualified for this role. And Republican senators, especially those on Senate Armed Services, in the intel committees, take the national security post extremely seriously," Farah Griffin said.
"I think the questions around his qualifications to be Secretary of Defense are really going to be front and center with Gaetz kind of out of the limelight now and Hegseth's got a real uphill battle to confirmation," said Farah Griffin, also a former press secretary for the Department of Defense.
However, multiple Senate Republicans said Thursday they are upbeat about Hegseth's chances.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who is set to become the next head of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, told reporters that the nomination is in "pretty good shape." Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said that Hegseth "can explain all the situations" and is "going to be just fine."
In 2017, a California woman told police that Hegseth sexually assaulted her in a hotel room in Monterey where she and Hegseth were both involved in an event for the California Federation of Republican Women. Hegseth told police that he had a sexual encounter with the woman but said that it was consensual.
Hegseth said the "matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared, and that's where I am going to leave it."
Farah Griffin said the allegation "just muddies it even further."
"And I would say it frankly gives the Trump transition an offramp if they wanna go a different direction," she said. "I think there's gonna be a lot more pressure around Hegseth. These are pretty damning allegations."
A high-ranking Senate Republican disagrees.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., set to become the second-highest ranking Republican in the Senate, told reporters that Hegseth is a "strong nominee" to head the Pentagon.