SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — (AP) — Republican Sen. Joni Ernst made her most expansive comments yet on Pete Hegseth, telling a largely GOP audience at a California security conference Saturday that she needs to hear more from President-elect Donald Trump's embattled defense secretary pick on key issues before she decides whether to support him.
”I am a survivor of sexual assault," said Ernst of Iowa, a military veteran who has spent much of her time as a lawmaker working on improving how attacks are reported and prosecuted within the ranks. “I've worked very heavily on sexual assault measures within the military. So I'd like to hear a lot more about that.”
Ernst is one of several Senate Republicans who control the fate of Hegseth, an infantry combat veteran and former "Fox & Friends" weekend host who spent the past week on Capitol Hill trying to win the support of Republican senators who would need to confirm him to lead the Pentagon.
Hegseth has been fighting for his nomination amid allegations of excessive drinking and the revelation that he made a settlement payment after being accused of a sexual assault that he denies.
Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance and others have defended him in recent days. Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview recorded Friday that he believes Hegseth will be confirmed and that senators have called him to tell him that Hegseth is fantastic.
“Pete is doing well now,” the president-elect said in an excerpt of the interview set to air Sunday. “I mean, people were a little bit concerned. He’s a young guy with a tremendous track record.”
Ernst has faced pressure from Trump supporters to back Hegseth. Unlike most of her Republican Senate peers, Ernst is not only a sexual assault survivor but also served in combat as an Army National Guard lieutenant colonel — work that Hegseth has railed against.
He said as recently as last month that women “straight up” should not serve in combat roles.
“I'd like to hear about the role of women in combat in our great United States military,” Ernst said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.
She also wanted to see how Hegseth — who has no Pentagon leadership experience — would handle financial issues at the Defense Department.
“Balancing the books and managing and providing oversight for a $877 billion industry is extremely important,” Ernst said.
A day earlier, Hegseth posted on social media that he "had another substantive conversation with Senator Ernst, I appreciate her sincere commitment to defense policy, and I look forward to meeting with her again next week."
Ernst said she looks forward to seeing him in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee as well as part of a confirmation process "where he'll have to answer some very tough questions."
“There will be a very thorough vetting before he moves forward,” Ernst said, adding that she wants to ensure it's a fair process.
In meeting with Ernst, Hegseth will likely need to further explain a 2017 California police report after a woman accused Hegseth of sexually assaulting her after he took her phone, blocked the door to a hotel room and refused to let her leave after the two had met at a Republican conference.
Asked in an interview Wednesday for Megyn Kelly’s SiriusXM satellite radio show if he sexually assaulted the woman, Hegseth said “absolutely not.” He called it a “really unfortunate situation” and said he paid her a settlement because he “had to,” contending that her lawyers said they would “out him.”
Hegseth said the payment was to keep the matter quiet because he was afraid it would affect his Fox News job. His 2017 accuser has remained anonymous, and on Saturday, Ernst said she would trust the FBI “to vet this and present it to the committee.”