Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.) believes President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon, former Fox News host and veteran Pete Hegseth, is “being investigated by anonymous sources.” He said there was.
In an interview on NBC News' “Meet the Press,” Mr. Graham said anyone with credible allegations against Mr. Hegseth should come forward, but vowed not to derail his nomination.
“Yeah. Unless something comes out that I don't know about, I'm on good terms with Pete,” Graham said about whether he has enough support to receive confirmation.
“These allegations are alarming, but they're anonymous. I asked him straight up, 'Did you stand up drunk in a bar and say, 'Let's kill all Muslims?'” he said. No,” I said.
Graham said the person who made the sexual assault allegation against Hegseth “has the right to come forward to the committee,” adding that Hegseth told him he would release the person from a non-disclosure agreement.
“But things like mismanagement of money, drinking problems, saying inappropriate things. These are all anonymous allegations,” Graham continued. “He told me his side of the story and it makes sense to me. I believe him. I think he can get through it unless someone comes forward.
Mr. Graham set in motion the elaborate confirmation process for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who also faced sexual assault allegations before being confirmed by the Senate.
“Remember Kavanaugh? Five people accused Judge Kavanaugh of wrongdoing. Three of them were flat-out lies. I don't think the other two can be trusted. So we don't want Pete to do that. We're not going to invalidate his nomination based on anonymous sources. People need to come forward and make credible claims, and we'll see if they do. Let's try it.
“If people have something to say, come forward and claim it like we did with Kavanaugh. We'll decide if it's credible or not. He's currently being tried by an anonymous source. . It's intolerable,” Graham said.
