The centrist who could prove vital to the Pentagon nominee's future was recently approached by a third-party individual with access to the alleged accuser.

The Iowa Republican’s decision dramatically increases the likelihood that Mr. Hegseth will have enough votes to be confirmed as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s defense secretary.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa announced on Tuesday that she would be voting for Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth—bringing one of the chamber’s last remaining Republican skeptics into line and significantly raising the former Fox News host and Army veteran’s chances of being confirmed.

Senators of both parties hammered Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Defense nominee, over his past comments about women serving in the military.

Stonewalling questions about his sexual behavior and excessive drinking as “anonymous smears,” the Fox host charmed the Senate Armed Services Committee’s GOP majority into submission.

Sen. Joni Ernst’s support is a huge boost to Hegseth’s prospects, all but assuring his confirmation as defense secretary barring twists in the GOP-led Senate.

It is the first serious test of Donald Trump’s newly invigorated strongman model of governance and of whether he can continue to bend the Republican Party to his will even as Hegseth breaks procedural precedents,

Maine's independent senator questioned the former Fox News host and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan about women in combat, torture and the war in Ukraine.

Pete Hegseth, the controversial former Fox News host, has been accused of sexual assault and faces a grueling confirmation hearing on the path to becoming the next secretary of defense.