The New Yorker's Jane Mayer reports that President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has waged "an intense, and in many ways unprecedented, behind-the-scenes campaign" to "intimidate and silence potential witnesses" who could deliver damaging testimony against Pete Hegseth, the man tapped by Trump to be his next secretary of defense.
Among other things, Mayer reported that Trump's allies are trying to clamp down on stories about Hegseth's alleged alcohol abuse.
Hegseth has acknowledged his past drinking problems but has sworn that they are a thing of the past and that he will not drink while overseeing the world's most powerful military.
However, one source told Mayer that they witnessed Hegseth drinking excessively within the last two years, as the Trump DoD pick allegedly ordered three gin and tonics during a breakfast the two had at a bar back in 2023.
"I don’t know how he could pass a security clearance," the source confided to Mayer. "But they’re trying to create a culture where whistle-blowers are uncomfortable coming forward."
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Trump allies have also been trying to quash stories about Hegseth's alleged past sexual misconduct, with MAGA attorney Tim Parlatore publicly threatening to sue a woman who filed a police report against Hegseth alleging that he sexually assaulted her.
The tactics appear to be working, wrote Mayer, as Republican senators are taking a see-no-evil approach to hearing from witnesses who could offer damaging testimony.
"Some of these senators have also declined to speak face to face and confidentially with such critics, including the woman who accused Hegseth of rape," she wrote. "According to three sources with knowledge of the situation, Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, is one of the senators who have turned down offers to hear privately from Hegseth’s accuser."
One source who spoke with Mayer told the New Yorker journalist that GOP senators at the moment are "just plain scared of Trump."
