Trump World Sources: Joni Ernst Is Waging ‘Aggressive’ Personal Jihad Against Hegseth

Ernst has repeatedly called Trump threatening him to dump Hegseth at the same time surrogates have told Trump to tap Ernst instead.

Shawn Fleetwood reporting for The Federalist

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has been leading an “aggressive” personal jihad against Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, multiple sources within Trump world with direct knowledge of her outreach to Trump told The Federalist on Wednesday.

Ernst’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.

“She’s waging a campaign to replace Pete with herself,” a Trump source familiar with her phone calls with Trump said.

Ernst posted a tweet on X following her meeting with Hegseth on Wednesday afternoon. The Iowa senator said she “appreciate[s] Pete Hegseth’s service to our country,” and that they “had a frank and thorough conversation.” She did not, however, say whether she will support his nomination to become defense secretary.

When pressed on Wednesday by The Hill’s Alex Bolton on whether she’s interested in becoming Trump’s defense secretary, Ernst didn’t give a direct answer, instead saying, “Pete is the nominee,” according to Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio.

Within the past few days, Hegseth has come under a barrage of unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing during his time working at Fox News and spearheading veteran-related nonprofit organizations. Numerous former colleagues and associates have come out strongly disputing the accusations from anonymous individuals.

A woman also previously accused Hegseth of sexual assault following a purported 2017 sexual encounter between the two. Police declined to press charges following an investigation into the matter.

Ernst has also come under fire with allegations of an inappropriate extramarital sexual relationship. According to a 2019 Associated Press report, “In the court documents, Ernst’s ex-husband, Gail Ernst, accused her of having an affair with one of her soldiers while she was deployed as a company commander.”

Ernst has denied the allegations.

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’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, “It wasn’t just one time.”

“She’s constantly calling and nagging him,” the source said.

Ernst is not working alone in her efforts to tank Hegseth’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.

Graham gave credence to the slanderous allegations against Hegseth on Tuesday, telling CBS News he finds the allegations “very disturbing.”

“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,” Graham said. “Some of the things have to be addressed, and we’ll see.”