Defense secretary designee Pete Hegseth got some backup in his quest to lock down Senate support on Wednesday from Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, the Marine who went viral after getting penalized for criticizing his superiors over the disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Scheller led a group of more than a dozen and a half rank-and-file across the upper chamber on Wednesday, stopping by countless Senate offices to rally support for President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for the post.
“We have empirical data demonstrating over 5k signatures from prominent veterans, generals, admirals, and junior service members supporting Pete Hegseth,” Scheller told The Post.
“We want to impress upon these Senators and staff that we need people with courage willing to change the status quo.”
During their Senate venture, the group of veterans broke off into two teams and lobbied for Hegseth in meetings with senators and handed off a one-page executive summary of why they are backing Hegseth.
They targetted a wide range of senators, including Democrats such as Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) as well as potential swing GOP votes like Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
“Some vocally support Mr. Hegseth and others are still developing their opinions. But all have allowed us to advocate and articulate why the veteran community overwhelmingly wants an outside establishment pick to reform the DoD,” Scheller said.
Hegseth had been a surprise pick by Trump. Shortly after he was announced, revelations emerged that he paid a woman to keep her quiet about accusations that he sexually assaulted her back in 2017.
The former Fox News anchor has adamantly denied the claims and his legal team has pointed to a police report from the time as evidence of vindication.
Initially, some GOP senators sounded skeptical of Hegseth, including Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). But Hegseth continued to meet with her and Trump supporters mounted a pressure campaign against her.
Ultimately, Ernst, a rape survivor, changed course and announced that she would “support Pete through this process.”
Many potential senators have remained guarded about where exactly they stand on his forthcoming nomination, keeping their powder dry in anticipation of a confirmation hearing.
“I obviously always wait until we have an FBI background check and one is underway in the case of Mr. Hegseth. And I wait to see the committee hearing before reaching a final decision,” Collins told reporters last week, declining to elaborate on her thoughts about him.
“I had a good exchange with Mr. Hegseh,” Murkowski told reporters. “Let’s see what the process bears.”
Multiple veterans who served in combat with Hegseth have backed his bid to helm the Department of Defense.
Typically, the DOD is led by former executives, generals and national security luminaries. Hegseth had previously been considered to helm the Department of Veteran Affairs under the first Trump administration.
