How Trump’s Orbit Used Blunt Force To Squeeze Hegseth Through

Pete Hegseth seemed well on his way to becoming Trump’s next Defense secretary on Thursday evening when a bombshell landed in the laps of Senate Majority Leader John Thune and President Donald Trump’s team.

After voting to advance his confirmation earlier that day, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) informed GOP leaders that he would oppose Hegseth on final confirmation, effectively killing the nomination. And he wanted them to scrap the vote entirely.

What followed was an intense 24-hour pressure campaign in which Senate Republican leaders and Trump’s team — both in the White House and outside MAGA allies — locked arms to personally cajole Tillis to save the president’s controversial nominee, the last battle in a monthslong effort get Hegseth confirmed amid allegations of sexual assault, leadership incompetence and alcohol abuse.

Through it all, Hegseth’s allies bulled forward in Trumpian fashion. They accused Democrats of peddling a smear campaign and went after reporters who wrote about the allegations. They sought to discredit and silence Hegseth’s accusers. And, perhaps in their most risky move of all, they sicced what one Senate aide called “MAGA goons” — a band of influential online combatants — onto GOP senators.

In the end, it worked.

On the inside, the White House went into overdrive to address Tillis’ concerns, putting the senator in touch with the president as well as Hegseth. On the outside, the MAGA apparatus went to work attacking Tillis as a RINO and threatening a primary campaign against him.

And in the Senate, Thune went to bat for Hegseth. When Tillis asked to scrap the vote, the new majority leader refused — essentially daring him to vote no.

The pressure campaign highlights a paradigm shift for Trump’s Cabinet and inner circle: While the standard rules of politics have never really applied to Teflon Trump, they often did apply to his nominees during his first term.

Former HHS Secretary Tom Price was essentially forced out following POLITICO reports that he was jaunting around the country on private jets paid for by taxpayers. Trump fired national security adviser Michael Flynn for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russia during the transition.

Now, everything is different. Trump has been able to extend his political reach, giving cover to the people he wants to serve him in office.

Even Tillis’ concerns, spurred by the private investigation he conducted unbeknownst to his colleagues since December, didn’t break through.

The senator had spoken personally with the author of a whistleblower report alleging Hegseth had financially mismanaged a veterans’ organization and engaged in drunken carousing on the job. He was in conversations with Hegseth’s ex-sister-in-law, who alleged his second wife feared for her safety around him.

“In another time, he would have never made it out of committee,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “But this is no ordinary time — the Trump cult is powerful.”

This account is based on over a dozen interviews with GOP senators, aides and Trump officials, both on his transition team and in the White House, over the course of the past two months.

Surprise — and then, attack mode

Two months ago, it seemed unlikely that Trump’s inner circle would put so much energy behind Hegseth’s confirmation. They were blindsided by news that he’d paid off a woman who had alleged that he had sexually assaulted her at a conference in 2017. Susie Wiles, Trump's incoming chief of staff, even confronted Hegseth, who denied the allegation.

Ambitious pols quickly smelled blood in the water. Just days afterthe New York Times reported that Hegseth’s own mother once lambasted him as “an abuser of women” in a private email, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke to Trump about the job. That conversation set tongues wagging among the many DeSantis skeptics in Trump's inner circle. Some of them moved to downplay the story to reporters, accusing DeSantis' allies of leaking his conversation with Trump prematurely.

Some Trump allies decided right then and there: They'd sure as hell rather have Hegseth than DeSantis. Plus, allegations or not, the boss — who long viewed himself as a victim of unfair sexual assault allegations — still had a soft spot for his young, handsome and telegenic nominee.

It was around then that the Trump team’s posture shifted from defense to attack mode. The name of the game became: deny, deny, deny — and don’t give an inch.

They brought in extra muscle to help. Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr. asked Arthur Schwartz — an online MAGA brawler well known in Washington for his biting quips, sharp elbows and combative posture toward Democrats, the media and even Hill Republicans at times — to join the Hegseth team.

At first, Hegseth and his new posse were performing for an audience of one. The team put Hegseth on Megyn Kelly’s long-form podcast to tell his side of the story outside the traditional 10-minute cable-TV hit. His mom agreed to go on Fox News to explain how she regretted her email to her son.

Hegseth’s team made sure Trump saw the clips — and he loved them.

“Pete’s performance in the interviews helped turn the tide,” said one person close with Hegseth granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Then came the salvo: Target the press, something that would continue all the way up to the day Hegseth was confirmed. Trump and Hegseth allies on the outside started going after reporters who covered the accusations — many of whom received death threats and had to receive additional security.

“Reporters who went after Pete would have a very rough day or week or month,” said the Hegseth ally. “Reporters are very sensitive to that. We treated them as they should be treated — as adversaries in an adversarial process.”

Meanwhile, the team moved quickly to neutralize threats against Hegseth — starting with the sexual assault allegation. While Hegseth’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, indicated that the nondisclosure agreement Hegseth’s accuser had signed as part of the payoff agreement was no longer in effect, the attorney went on CNN and threatened to sue the woman if she repeated her allegation.

The threat seemed to have its intended effect: Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee tried to reach the accuser but were never able to get through, according to Democratic officials familiar with the situation who were granted anonymity to discuss it. She had no interest in speaking up.

For a time, Democrats on the panel were following an investigative lead on their own. In December, Kat Dugan, the author of one of the whistleblower reports alleging Hegseth mismanaged the veterans group, told the panel she would not come forward publicly or testify but offered to tell her story to senators. She also sent messages to former colleagues encouraging them to do the same, according to a committee official with knowledge of what happened.

But one of those old acquaintances shared her message with the transition, which leaked it to the right-leaning Washington Free Beacon alongside a negative performance review Dugan received. The insinuation: Dugan was a disgruntled employee who had it out for Hegseth. The surprising takeaway among Democrats on the Hill: Someone affiliated with the vets organization was passing information to help Hegseth.

Making an example of Joni

The Hegseth braintrust’s strategy meant going after their own party, and they decided to make an example of one in particular: Sen. Joni Ernst.

The thinking went like this: If a survivor of rape, a female combat veteran and vocal advocate against sexual assault in the military could back a self-admitted cheater who had vocally opposed women in combat and had been accused of sexual assault and drinking on the job, then anybody in the party could as well.

Ernst had personally told Trump that she had reservations about Hegseth. But she made the fundamental mistake of giving those around Trump the impression that she was pitching herself for the job — an idea allies like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) echoed in private conversations with the transition. (A person close with Ernst denies that she tried to make a play for the job.)

What's more, Trump insiders remembered that Ernst stayed neutral in the Iowa presidential primary rather than endorse Trump. Some who remembered were all too happy to help bully her into line.

The MAGA apparatus set to work hounding and harassing Ernst, threatening to back a primary challenger against her in 2026. While ousting a sitting Republican in Iowa would be a tall order, Ernst was clearly more comfortable being seen as a team player than someone holding up Trump’s Cabinet picks.

The reason “we were so vicious with Joni is because she was trying to get the job for herself,” the Hegseth ally said. “We’re not gonna tolerate that.”

The pressure campaign took on a life of its own. Ernst and her staff received a barrage of threatening messages. Some people even reached out to her family, according to one person who heard frustration from Ernst — though her office downplayed the badgering.

It was a risky gamble and one that could have easily backfired. Senate Republicans, after all, have long warned Trump against trying to pressure them. But Trump insiders found that it worked out better than they had ever imagined. Not only did Ernst quickly look for a way out, many other senators quieted their concerns about Trump’s other controversial nominees, fearful of getting similar blowback.

Meanwhile, Schwartz joined Hegseth in some of his Hill meetings, an eager bulldog on a leash next to a chef chopping steaks. While Schwartz didn't take public shots at senators, his presence on the team was itself enough to make Senate Republicans and their aides think twice.

But many Republicans maintained their reservations about Hegseth. Several not only doubted his ethical compass and his vow to quit drinking if confirmed — which was essential to his confirmation process — but they questioned his judgment in bringing his wife with him to private meetings on Capitol Hill. Some found her presence unprofessional, making it more difficult to press him on accusations of infidelity and assault.

For a while, some in the GOP were privately hoping Democrats would help them find a way out of the situation. In December, several Republicans told POLITICO they thought Democrats would hold news conferences with Hegseth’s accusers.

But with the memory of the ferocious attacks against Christine Blasey Ford during now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s 2018 confirmation process still fresh in people’s minds, none were willing to subject themselves to the same fate — thrust into a partisan meat grinder only to have Hegseth confirmed anyway.

The secret hold-out

While it might have appeared the fight for Hegseth was over the moment Ernst endorsed him, that wasn’t the case behind the scenes — at least for one Republican fence-sitter.

Early on, Tillis — who like Ernst is up for reelection next year— vowed to take the process seriously and try to learn the truth for himself about the accusations behind the headlines, breaking from some of his GOP colleagues who were falling in line.

Tillis privately told Armed Services staff that he wanted them to put him in touch with the accusers, saying that he wanted to do his own “due diligence.” Democrats took him up on that invitation, passing on information and contacts they had received.

One of the accusers — the veterans organization whistleblower, Dugan — was a Tillis constituent whom the senator spoke with several times. He also spoke with Danielle Hegseth, the former wife of the nominee’s brother, who informed senators that Pete Hegseth’s second wife, Samantha, had once hid from him in a closet and had a safe word to signal to friends that she was in distress.

Democrats on the committee believed Danielle Hegseth’s testimony was critical for other, underreported reasons: While both Pete Hegseth and his second wife denied that there was physical abuse in their marriage, Samantha was bound by a nondisparagement clause in her divorce agreement, making them question whether she was really free to speak her truth.

Tillis encouraged Danielle to submit a sworn affidavit of her account to the committee, indicating that it could influence how members — himself included — might vote, as the Wall Street Journal first reported.

“I take this confirmation process very seriously,” he told POLITICO Monday. “I spoke to a lot of people.”

Tillis had earlier told his colleagues that if the Armed Services panel reported Hegseth out favorably, he’d support the confirmation. But he’d learned enough from his own inquiries to change his mind — at least for 24 hours.

His warning to GOP leaders of an impending no vote Thursday came as two Senate Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — voted against advancing his nomination. With Republicans also concerned that Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell would oppose Hegseth as well, fears spiked suddenly the nomination was dead.

Then the White House and GOP leaders went to work. They connected Tillis with people who aired concerns about Danielle Hegseth’s allegations, suggesting she had ulterior motives and that she’d never gotten along with the nominee. Pete Hegseth authored a letter explaining a number of the concerns Tillis aired, arguing that the allegations of physical violence were not true.

Meanwhile, the outside MAGA forces spun into motion. While Trump allies lit him up on X and social media, one person close to Trump pushed Tillis to get in line, infuriating the senator and leading him to complain to colleagues about the pressure tactics.

Ultimately, Tillis decided after his Friday calls that none of the allegations against Hegseth were supported by undisputed first-hand accounts — or if they did, he couldn’t find a second person to corroborate them.

What it amounted to was hearsay — one person's word against another’s.

“What I concluded — and I told them all the same thing — is that unless I am hearing an eyewitness account or [about] an event that can be corroborated by someone else, then I have discarded the accounts,” he said. “It's not that some of the allegations didn't appear credible. But at the end of the day… I can’t really have a secret witness or an uncorroborated account influence me.”

On Friday night, after multiple phone calls with Trump and Hegseth, as well as prodding from fellow GOP senators, Tillis voted to confirm the nominee.