Trump doubles down on support for Pete Hegseth to run DOD

In a preview of President-elect Donald Trump’s exclusive interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he told moderator Kristen Welker that "It looks like Pete is doing well now," referring to his nominee as secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. The interview is scheduled to air Sunday. 

"I mean, people were a little bit concerned. He’s a young guy, with a tremendous track record actually. He went to Princeton and went to Harvard. He was a good student at both. But he loves the military and I think people are starting to see it so we’ll be working on his nomination along with a lot of others," according to NBC News.

There have been numerous reports over the past couple of weeks that the nomination was in trouble as reports surfaced alleging drinking and sexual misconduct problems. NBC News reported on Tuesday that as many as six Senate Republicans were not currently comfortable with supporting his nomination.  

As the criticism amped up and more reports appeared in the news, other names began to surface out of the Trump camp, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst and Tennessee Senator Bill Haggerty.

But Hegseth and Trump dug in and by the end of the week, it looked much more likely that he would survive the process than it had earlier in the week. 

"Yes I do, I really do," Trump said when asked if he still has confidence in the pick. 

"He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him through Fox, but I’ve known him for a long time. And he’s basically a military guy. Every time I talk to him, all he wants to talk about is the military. He’s a military guy."

Trump said "a lot of senators call me up saying he’s fantastic."

Regarding his drinking, Trump said, "I’ve spoken to people that know him very well and they say he does not have a drinking problem."