VP-Elect JD Vance: ‘Pete Hegseth Deserves a Fair Hearing by the Senate’

Vice President-elect JD Vance issued support for Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, to have “a fair hearing by the Senate.”

In a post on X, David Sivak, a Congress and Campaigns editor with the Washington Examiner, reported that Vance had spoken up regarding recent calls for Hegseth to withdraw from consideration for the role of Secretary of Defense.

“I think Pete Hegseth deserves a fair hearing by the Senate, not a sham hearing from the American media,” Vance said.

Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong previously reported that as Hegseth has faced a “seemingly coordinated media smear campaign,” dozens of supporters of Hegseth, and people who know him personally have come out in defense of Hegseth.

After the latest anonymously sourced smear dropped on Tuesday, which suggesting he had a drinking problem, there has been an outpouring of support for Hegseth from supporters — including coworkers, friends, and people who know him personally going on the record to call it a flat-out lie.

Hegseth has also faced criticism from The View co-hosts, who have had to issue legal notes in response to their comments regarding allegations surrounding Hegseth and their comments regarding an old private e-mail Hegseth’s mom, Penelope Hegseth sent to him, accusing him of having mistreated his ex-wife.

Hegseth’s mom has since come out and defended her son as being a “good father” and husband, explaining to the New York Times that she had sent the email “in anger, with emotion.”