Pete Hegseth faces ‘absolutely critical day’ as Trump mulls replacing him with DeSantis: Live updates

The New York Democrat and outspoken progressive told The Independent that commuting federal death sentences is more than just about the individual pardon, which many Democrats have loudly criticized.

Specifically, she cited Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who is serving a life sentence for killing two FBI agents, though advocates say he was wrongly convicted.

Eric Garcia has more.

Nikole Killion of CBS News caught up with Pete Hegseth at the Capitol this morning as he arrived for meetings with senators.

“I spoke to the president-elect this morning. He said keep going keep fighting. I’m behind you all the way.”

Facing a crucial moment in his nomination to be Donald Trump’s secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth is attempting to rally his supporters in the face of allegations regarding alcohol abuse, sexual assault, and mismanagement that his detractors say make him wholly unqualified for the role.

The former Fox News host posted a defiant tweet this morning, saying: “I’m doing this for the warfighters, not the warmongers.”

“The Left is afraid of disrupters and change agents. They are afraid of Donald Trump—and me. So they smear w/ fake, anonymous sources & BS stories. They don’t want truth,” he continued.

“Our warriors never back down, & neither will I.”

He also posted messages of support from Charlie Kirk, actor Dean Cain, Senator Rick Scott, and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Here’s James Liddell with the latest on the alleged hacking of Kash Patel by Tehran.

The judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s tax case is not thrilled with the president’s pardoning his son and has accused him of misrepresenting the case, saying his public statement “stands in tension with the case record”.

Judge Marc Scarsi issued a strong rebuke in response to the president’s announcement over the Thanksgiving weekend, saying that “in the president’s estimation, this legion of federal civil servants, the undersigned included, are unreasonable people” and declared “a press release is not a pardon.”

The conservative media personality has returned to Russia to interview Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

The former Fox News primetime host and Donald Trump ally made waves nine months ago when he unexpectedly appeared in Moscow to interview Putin himself, only to be widely derided for his credulous coverage of the country and failure to confront the Kremlin leader over his actions in Ukraine.

Even the Russian president mocked Carlson, pointing out his lack of “sharp” questions and teasing him about his failed attempt to join the CIA earlier in his career.

On Tuesday, Carlson posted a video on X from Red Square, where he explained his latest visit.

Here’s more.

The mother of Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, who previously rebuked him over his treatment of women, is on Fox’s morning show right now to defend her boy.

Here’s what she’s had to tell Steve Doocy so far:

Justin Baragona has more.

Here’s an interesting little sidenote to the president-elect’s latest Truth Social announcement.

Here’s a defiant Pete Hegseth on X this morning accusing “the Left” of trying to bring him down with false stories because they fear “disrupters and agents of change”.

“I think some of these articles are very disturbing,” admitted South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham.

“He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of this stuff is… it’s going to be difficult.”

Iowa’s Joni Ernst, another veteran who has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Hegseth, pledged to have “a really frank and thorough conversation” with him.

Louisiana’s John Kennedy said he had read up on the nominee and conceded he was “going to have to address” the stories about his past, pointing to the email Hegseth’s mother reportedly sent her son and saying: “Of all the allegations I’ve seen, that’s probably the most serious.”

Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming said Hegseth needed to address the concerns about him, James Lankford of Oklahoma said it was “reasonable” and “fair” to ask about them and Josh Hawley of Missouri admitted that some of his colleagues were “very worried” about the man’s qualifications to lead the Pentagon.

Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville stood up for him, however, saying he had asked Hegseth about the misconduct allegations and concluded: “There’s not going to be anything to this at the end of the day.”