{"id":2376459,"date":"2024-12-04T20:52:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T01:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sources-joni-ernst-is-waging-aggressive-jihad-against-hegseth\/"},"modified":"2024-12-04T20:53:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T01:53:26","slug":"sources-joni-ernst-is-waging-aggressive-jihad-against-hegseth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sources-joni-ernst-is-waging-aggressive-jihad-against-hegseth\/","title":{"rendered":"Sources: Joni Ernst Is Waging &#8216;Aggressive&#8217; Jihad Against Hegseth"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsources-joni-ernst-is-waging-aggressive-jihad-against-hegseth%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2376459&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Senator Joni ernst of Iowa has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-president-trumps-2024-gop-hopefuls-from-south-carolina-with-party-speaking-gig\/\" title=\"Former President Trump outshines South Carolina&#039;s potential 2024 GOP candidates with party speaking engagement.\">actively\u2064 campaigning<\/a> against Pete Hegseth, who has been \u200cnominated by Donald Trump for the position\u2063 of defense secretary. Sources close to Trump reported that Ernst made personal \u200dcalls to \u200curge Trump to reconsider Hegseth\u2019s nomination prior to her \u2062meeting with him. It appears that\u2064 Ernst is interested in replacing Hegseth \u200dwith herself. Following her \u200bmeeting with hegseth, Ernst tweeted her appreciation for Hegseth&#8217;s\u2064 service and stated they had an in-depth discussion, but she did not clarify \u2064if she \u2063would \u200dsupport his nomination. When asked if she was interested in the secretarial position,\u2063 she only acknowledged Hegseth as the nominee without giving a definitive answer.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has been leading an &ldquo;aggressive&rdquo; personal jihad against Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump&rsquo;s nominee for defense secretary, multiple sources within Trump world with direct knowledge of her outreach to Trump told The Federalist on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Ernst&rsquo;s efforts included personal calls to Trump to urge him to dump Hegseth ahead of her meeting with the Army veteran on Wednesday afternoon. Ernst did not tell Hegseth during her meeting with him about her efforts to derail his nomination, sources told The Federalist.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s waging a campaign to replace Pete with herself,&rdquo; a Trump source familiar with her phone calls with Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>Ernst posted a tweet on X following her meeting with Hegseth on Wednesday afternoon. The Iowa senator said she &ldquo;appreciate[s] Pete Hegseth&rsquo;s service to our country,&rdquo; and that they &ldquo;had a frank and thorough conversation.&rdquo; She did not, however, say whether she will support his nomination to become defense secretary.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>I appreciate Pete Hegseth&rsquo;s service to our country, something we both share.<\/p>\n<p>Today, as part of the confirmation process, we had a frank and thorough conversation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenJoniErnst\/status\/1864410399870685546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 4, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>When pressed on Wednesday by The Hill&rsquo;s Alex Bolton on whether she&rsquo;s interested in becoming Trump&rsquo;s defense secretary, Ernst didn&rsquo;t give a direct answer, instead saying, &ldquo;Pete is the nominee,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AndrewDesiderio\/status\/1864409540466225630\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio.<\/p>\n<p>Within the past few days, Hegseth has come under a barrage of unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing during his time working at Fox News and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">spearheading veteran-related nonprofit organizations<\/a>. Numerous former&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/12\/04\/100-percent-bullsh-t-fox-news-talent-shoot-down-nbcs-smear-campaign-against-pete-hegseth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">colleagues<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.compactmag.com\/article\/smearing-pete-hegseth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">associates<\/a>&nbsp;have come out strongly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/12\/04\/us-news\/trustee-denied-8-years-ago-that-defense-secretary-pick-pete-hegseth-was-ousted-from-veterans-group-over-drinking-misconduct\/?utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disputing<\/a>&nbsp;the accusations from anonymous individuals.<\/p>\n<p>A woman also previously accused Hegseth of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/poll-one-in-six-biden-voters-would-have-changed-their-vote-if-they-had-known-about-scandals-suppressed-by-media\/\" title=\"Poll: One In Six Biden Voters Would Have Changed Their Vote If They Had Known About Scandals Suppressed By Media\">sexual assault<\/a> following a purported 2017 sexual encounter between the two. Police <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/21\/the-police-report-about-pete-hegseths-alleged-sexual-assault-vindicates-him-of-criminality\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declined<\/a> to press charges following an investigation into the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Ernst has also come under fire with allegations of an inappropriate extramarital sexual relationship. According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/23\/iowa-sen-ernst-denies-allegation-of-affair-with-soldier-while-deployed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2019 Associated Press report<\/a>, &ldquo;In the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/84f09e2fce3b4c90b3c4ee5857984d7b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">court documents<\/a>, Ernst&rsquo;s ex-husband, Gail Ernst, accused her of having an affair with one of her soldiers while she was deployed as a company commander.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Ernst has denied the allegations. <\/p>\n<p>Sources told The Federalist that Ernst began calling Trump within the last two days threatening to get all the female senators to vote against Hegseth if the president-elect didn&rsquo;t pull his nomination. When asked when exactly Ernst called Trump this week to deliver her anti-Hegseth ultimatum, a source in Trump world sighed and said, &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t just one time.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s constantly calling and nagging him,&rdquo; the source said. <\/p>\n<p>Ernst is not working alone in her efforts to tank Hegseth&rsquo;s nomination, however. Another source added that the Republican senator dispatched Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., over the weekend to nag Trump to ditch Hegseth and replace him by nominating Ernst.<\/p>\n<p>Graham gave credence to the slanderous allegations against Hegseth on Tuesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CBSNews\/status\/1864065564404002964\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">telling<\/a> CBS News he finds the allegations &ldquo;very disturbing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think some of these articles are very disturbing. He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of this stuff is going to be difficult,&rdquo; Graham&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CBSNews\/status\/1864065564404002964\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. &ldquo;Some of the things have to be addressed, and we&rsquo;ll see.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Ernst&rsquo;s office did not respond to The Federalist&rsquo;s immediate request for comment. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnn-finally-discovers-china-uses-u-s-media-to-attack-the-united-states\/\" title=\"CNN Finally Discovers China Uses U.S. Media To Attack The United States\">staff writer<\/a> for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-american-freedom-convoy-set-to-launch-on-march-1\/\" title=\"Exclusive: \u2018American Freedom Convoy\u2019 Set To Launch On March 1\">state content writer<\/a> for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Joni Ernst is actively opposing Trump\u2019s defense nominee, Pete Hegseth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2376460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Joni-Ernst.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[45173,33027,37324],"class_list":["post-2376459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-hegseth","tag-joni-ernst","tag-political-conflict"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Joni-Ernst.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2376459"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2376463,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376459\/revisions\/2376463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2376460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2376459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2376459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2376459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}