'Doing very well': Trump rallies behind defense secretary pick Hegseth but invites DeSantis to Army-Navy game
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida will join President-elect Trump next weekend at the annual Army-Navy college football game, two sources familiar tell Fox News.
The teaming up of DeSantis and Trump — for the second time this month — comes as multiple sources have confirmed that the president-elect is considering nominating the governor as defense secretary as a possible replacement for Pete Hegseth, Trump's embattled current pick to steer the Pentagon.
But the move also comes as Trump on Friday took to social media to write that "Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe."
DeSantis, a popular conservative governor and a Navy veteran who served in the Iraq War, waged a bitter battle last year and early this year with Trump during a very combative and divisive GOP presidential nomination race. But the two Republican heavyweights seemed to make peace after the primaries, and DeSantis helped raise funds for Trump during the general election.
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DeSantis, who was re-elected in a landslide in 2022 but is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026, is "very much" in contention to replace Hegseth, multiple sources told Fox News.
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Another source told Fox News' chief political anchor and "Special Report" host Bret Baier that it was the president-elect himself who floated the governor's name, and that Trump and DeSantis discussed the idea as they met Tuesday while appearing together in Florida at a memorial service for fallen law enforcement officers in Palm Beach County.
The reporting from Fox News and other organizations this week came as Hegseth continued meeting with Republican senators as he made his case for confirmation as defense secretary.
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Hegseth, an Army National Guard officer who deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and who previously was a Fox News host, is facing a series of drinking and sexual misconduct allegations. He has denied allegations that he mistreated women and has vowed that he won't drink "a drop of alcohol" if confirmed as defense secretary.
A seemingly defiant Hegseth told reporters on Thursday afternoon that "this will not be a process tried in the media. I don’t answer to anyone in this group. None of you, not to that camera at all. I answer to President Trump, who received 76 million votes on behalf... and a mandate for change. I answer to the 100 senators who are part of this process and those in the committee. And I answer to my Lord and Savior and my wife and my family."
Trump, in his social media post, argued that Hegseth "will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense . . . , one who leads with charisma and skill."
The Army-Navy game is scheduled for Dec. 14 in Landover, Maryland. It will be the 125th game in the storied football series between the two military service academies.
Trump attended the game as president-elect in 2016 and three additional times during his first administration.