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A posting on Donald Trump's Truth Social platform that Fox News personality Pete Hegseth might be pushed aside as the Department of Defense secretary set off a furious backlash among supporters of the president-elect.

Late Tuesday both the Wall Street Journal and The Bulwark reported that Hegseth could be out of the running for the Cabinet position after a series of reports about his alleged drinking problems while he worked at Fox News and when he headed up several veterans organizations.

President-elect Donald Trump for years has differentiated himself from Republicans by ruling out cutting or privatizing popular programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

But as Salon's Heather Parton writes, Trump's decision to empower X CEO Elon Musk to lead a "Department of Government Efficiency" leads her to believe that major cuts to these programs are firmly on the table for his second term.

Donald Trump added a former adviser who served four months in prison earlier this year to his White House team.

The president-elect announced that his former top trade adviser Peter Navarro, who was released from prison in July, would serve in his second administration as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.

Penelope Hegseth, the mother of Donald Trump's current and embattled nominee for U.S. Secretary of Defense, appeared on the cable network where her son Pete works, to urge the U.S. Senate, and especially "female Senators," to disregard media reports—which include allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive alcohol abuse, financial mismanagement of two veterans' organizations, and tattoos suggesting a link to Christian nationalism. She insisted her son is a changed man and should be confirmed.

In a sit-down one-on-one interview with Fox News co-host Steve Doocy, who called her "Penny," Penelope Hegseth on Wednesday said the letter she sent her son, which The New York Times published late last week, does not reflect the man he is today, or the mother she is. But when asked if she would testify on her son's behalf before the U.S. Senate, she refused to commit.

Right-wing influencer Steve Bannon lashed out at President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago advisers after word leaked that former Fox News host Pete Hegseth could be replaced as nominee for defense secretary.

During a Wednesday rant on his War Room program, Bannon reacted to news that Trump could nominate Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) or others to replace Hegseth.

Some of Donald Trump's nominees for high-ranking government positions have objected to undergoing FBI background checks, but one of his allies said that position may change.

The president-elect's defense nominee Pete Hegseth may soon be forced to drop out in the face of alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct allegations, but some of Trump's picks are still resisting standard FBI background checks until he can install his own hand-picked director for the law enforcement agency.

As part of a campaign to salvage the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Donald Trump's secretary of defense, the mother of the embattled former Fox News personality made an appearance Fox on Wednesday morning in an attempt to explain away an email she wrote where she called her son a serial abuser of women.

Over the weekend, the New York Times published the leaked email where Penelope Hegseth wrote, "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. 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."

On Wednesday morning she stated she wrote the email in haste while attacking the Times for publishing, adding that the Times neglected to publish her follow-up email two hours later apologizing to her son and then dismissed multiple new accounts of her son's alleged drunken carousing.

ALSO READ: Will Trump back the FBI’s battle against domestic extremists? He won’t say.

Speaking with Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy, Penelope Hegseth complained, "They call you and threaten you. They say ‘Unless you make a statement, we will publish it as is.' I think that’s a despicable way to treat anyone.”

After sharing the clip on MSNBC"s "Morning Joe," co-host Mika Brzezinski had a skeptical look on her face as Joe Scarborough commented, "I will say a few things here though. First of all, she attacked the New York Times and said, 'Well, nobody's seen that apology.' The New York Times asked her when she said there was an apology email to send them that, and they would print it, and she could have shown that apology email on Fox News –– she did not."

"She also, when she was asked how the New York Times got this -- because she was attacking the New York Times –– she also didn't come straight forward on that when the New York Times suggested that she had forwarded it to a third party who then obviously released it," he added.

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Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the world's most powerful military, has come under fire after multiple reports have unearthed claims of drunken strip-club antics and multiple alleged instances of showing up to work while intoxicated.

All of this has put his nomination to lead the Department of Defense in serious doubt, but Hegseth issued a defiant post on X Wednesday morning informing his critics that he's not backing down.

A masked man shot and killed the CEO of UnitedHealth outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan, according to reports

Insurance executive Brian Thompson had arrived around 6:46 a.m. at the Hilton Hotel for a conference when a gunman who had allegedly been lying in wait for him opened fire and then fled, reported the New York Post.

President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Department of Energy, oil executive Chris Wright, has a long history of sneering at scientists who warn about the dangers of manmade climate change.

But the Washington Post reports that many of the scientists are now hitting back.

With both multiple outlets reporting that Donald Trump is in serious talks with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to step in and become the replacement candidate for secretary of defense should Fox News personality Pete Hegseth be pushed aside, the New York Times is reporting that the Florida Republican is not a shoo-in for the spot.

Late Tuesday both the Wall Street Journal and the Bulwark reported that the president-elect is unhappy with the reports coming out on Hegseth's reported drinking and drunken behavior reports and broached the possibility to DeSantis about joining his Cabinet.