Pete Hegseth, Vance meet with GOP senators to fight for nomination

(WASHINGTON) — Vice President-elect JD Vance returned to Capitol Hill Thursday to accompany President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial pick to be secretary of the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, where they met with Republican senators in hopes of helping his nomination process amid new details about a 2017 sexual assault claim against him.

Hegseth met with several Republican senators Thursday morning including Sens. John Barrasso, Roger Wicker, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty.

Hegseth emerged from his final meeting with the Republicans and thanked Trump, Vance and the senators, for the “incredible opportunity” to be nominated as the secretary of the Department of Defense. He said he takes the senate’s advice and consent for this nomination “very seriously.”

“It’s an Incredible opportunity that I do not take lightly,” Hegseth said.

Barrasso met with Hegseth Thursday morning and called the former Fox News host a “strong nominee.”

“Pete pledged that the Pentagon will focus on strength and hard power — not the current administration’s woke political agenda,” Barrasso said.

Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee — which will manage the secretary of defense nomination and eventual hearing, met with Hegseth and Vance Thursday morning for about an hour.

After the meeting, Wicker said Hegseth would be in “pretty good shape” during his confirmation process.

Hegseth, an Army veteran, could face a challenging road to confirmation and is speaking with Republican senators to in hopes of helping his nomination process.

Hegseth’s visit to Capitol Hill comes after new details emerged on the 2017 sexual assault claim against him.

The woman who accused Hegseth of sexual assault in 2017 told police at the time that he took her phone and blocked her from leaving the room the night of the incident, according to a 22-page police report posted online overnight. Hegseth told police the encounter was consensual.

The woman told police she had drank “much more than normal” and could not remembers many details of the evening, but remembered saying “no” a lot during her encounter with Hegseth, according to the report.

On Thursday, Hegseth responded to a question about the sexual assault claim, saying “the matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared and that’s where I am going to leave it.”

Asked if the Hegseth allegations and police report came up in their conversation, Wicker said they didn’t get into specifics.

“We weren’t specific, but, ya know, since no charges were brought by the authorities, we have only press reports,” Wicker said.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said she believes an FBI background check into Hegseth would be “helpful” in knowing more about Trump’s pick.

Ernst, a combat veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services committee, also said “there’s a lot floating around out there, we need to actually be able to visit with him face to face, and I know the committee will do a thorough vetting.”

Hegseth has been involved in other controversies as well. He has said in interviews before being named that he advocated a “frontal assault” on the DOD, including firing what he called “woke” generals and eliminating the Pentagon’s diversity goals. He also argued that the United States “should not have women in combat roles.”

Hegseth’s Capitol Hill visit comes just one day after Vance and former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, met with senators to make his case for the role. Gaetz announced Thursday that he is withdrawing his name from consideration to be Trump’s attorney general.

Gaetz’s meetings with senators took place the same day the House Ethics Committee decided against releasing the report into him over allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

-ABC News’ Arthur Jones and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.

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