President Donald Trump has been asking advisers whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should stay in his job after Republicans' heavy midterm losses, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
Trump has raised the question with people around him and on the phone, according to CBS's sources. Other sources told the network the president has not decided to replace Hegseth.
Some White House aides expect part of the blame for the GOP losses to fall on Brad Cooper, the admiral who heads U.S. Central Command, and Dan Caine, the general who chairs the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Both played major roles in guidance on the Iran war, CBS reported.
Vice President JD Vance has pinned the defeat on the conflict. "The reason we lost is the war," Vance wrote in a lengthy post on X on Wednesday morning.
One source told CBS that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being floated as a possible replacement. Under that idea, DeSantis would go through Senate confirmation in the lame-duck session and take over when his term as governor ends Jan. 5.
Asked by reporters Wednesday whether he was considering replacing Hegseth, Trump said, "No, I think he's doing a very good job." He was also asked whether Hegseth should fill the Senate seat Marsha Blackburn will vacate when she becomes Tennessee's governor.
"I actually think he'd be very popular if he did that," Trump said. He added, "but I haven't heard that at all."
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement that the president "has full confidence in Secretary Hegseth." She also praised the military operations in Iran and Venezuela and Hegseth's efforts to reverse the Biden Pentagon's focus on "DEI and woke ideology."
Hegseth's position could get more precarious in the new Congress. Democrats were already pushing to impeach him before the election, and they will now hold strong majorities in both chambers.
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