Some Trump allies chafe at potential DeSantis appointment
PoliticoDuring the primary, DeSantis suggested that Trump no longer had the energy to lead the country. He said he “didn’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star,” undercut Trump’s false claims he won the 2020 election, and said the “presidency is not a job for someone pushing 80.” And people close to Trump do not forget how DeSantis treated Wiles. But now, as Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth faces an uphill battle to get confirmed by the Senate, he is considering bringing his one time nemesis back into the fold. The pushback to DeSantis has prompted some people close to Trump to float Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, who has been named national security adviser in the new administration, and Sen. Joni Ernst, as other potential Defense Secretary contenders if Hegseth drops out. Get after it.” Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth, appeared on Fox & Friends earlier in the day to defend her son after the New York Times published an email from her in which she accused him of being a man who “belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around.” On Fox, Hegseth’s mother said her son, seven years after the bitter divorce that prompted her to write the scathing email to her son, is now “a new person,” and “he’s redeemed, forgiven, changed.” Hegseth’s mother did not commit to testifying about her son during a potential confirmation hearing.