Sen. Joni Ernst gave what appears to be her stamp of approval for Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth despite her history of standing up for the very type of women Hegseth is accused of assaulting and opposing.
“Following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon and selecting a senior official who will uphold the roles and value of our servicemen and women—based on quality and standards, not quotas—and who will prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks,” Ernst wrote in a statement posted to X.
“As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.”
Just a few days ago, however, it was unclear if the Iowa Republican would approve Donald Trump’s pick.
“I am a survivor of sexual assault,” Ernst said Saturday at a California security conference, “I’ve worked very heavily on sexual assault measures within the military. So I’d like to hear a lot more about that.”
Hegseth told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview on Monday that he had “good discussions” with Ernst.
"It was a great meeting. People don't really know this. I've known Sen. Ernst for over 10 years. I knew her when she was a state senator running to be the first female combat veteran," Hegseth said. "And we supported her in that effort, and have continued to. …The fact that she's willing to support me through this process means a lot."
This change in tone might come as a shock. After all, Ernst's reputation suggests she wouldn’t be in favor of a guy like Hegseth. In 2019, the details of Ernst’s abusive marriage were thrust into the spotlight. The senator—whose once-sealed, now public, divorce affidavit elicited a slew of tabloid-style attacks—further revealed that she had been raped in college.
“I didn’t want to share it with anybody, and in the era of #MeToo survivors, I always believed that every person is different and they will confront their demons when they’re ready,” she told the outlet. “And I was not ready.”
Standing on the other side of similar accusations, Hegseth faces resurfaced rape allegations from 2017—in which he allegedly paid the accuser to stay quiet and have the charges dropped. Hegseth was accused of raping an unconscious victim at a hotel after a Republican women’s conference event in Monterey, California. The anonymous victim stated in the report that she suspected she was drugged, and that she couldn’t “remember most of the night’s events.”
Pete Hegseth
Furthermore, the victim recalled that she had approached Hegseth at the event. Per her recollection, she told him she “did not appreciate how he treated women” after she saw Hegseth rubbing women “on their legs.” The victim recalled gruesome details after coming back to consciousness in an unfamiliar hotel room with Hegseth.
Ultimately, Hegseth paid the unnamed woman in exchange for dropping the lawsuit.
Adding insult to injury, even Hegseth’s mother joined the public discourse by calling out her son’s abuse of ex-wife Samantha.
“You are an abuser of women—that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego,” Penelope Hegseth wrote to her son. “You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”
And if this wasn’t enough cause for concern for Ernst, given her past, others might have also thought she would have said no due to her entire political platform. Ernst ran for the Senate in 2014 on the premise of fighting sexual abuse in military ranks.
At the time, she announced she would back the removal of cases of sexual assault from the military chain of command to avoid conflicts of interest or political pressures, a move that put her at odds with much of the GOP.
“This legislation must ensure that sexual crimes in the military are both independently investigated and prosecuted,” she wrote at the time.
“This will not be an easy challenge. I understand many in my own party in Washington will oppose this plan, as will many in the military and Pentagon. However, this should not be a partisan issue, and as a woman in uniform, I know that we must act now.”
The former “Fox & Friends” host’s sexist remarks regarding women in the military has an interesting juxtaposition with Ernst’s history.
“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated,” Hegseth said in a Nov. 7 interview on the “Shawn Ryan Show.”
Daily Kos reached out to Ernst’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.
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