okay well president-elect Donald Trump's defense secretary pick Pete heg Seth was on Capitol Hill again Thursday met with a number of Republican Senators to try and lock in enough support to get confirmed heg Seth is facing mounting allegations about his past including accusations of sexual assault and workplace misconduct he's denied any wrongdoing and had this to say when asked about if lawmakers have expressed concern I'm a different man than I was years ago and that's a Redemption story that I think a lot of Americans appreciate and I know from fellow vetss that I've spent time
with uh they resonate with that as well while Trump's strongest allies on Capitol Hill have stood firm in supporting heg Seth for a defense secretary some members of the incoming Republican conference are hesitant to give the controversial pick their full backing some of the allegations that have been made if our staff determines that they have credibility the nominee will be asked to address them and I'm if I were he I would want to address them and that's kind of where we are I mean my my mind is completely open well I think everybody's got concerns
with what's in the news but I think he deserves a chance to respond and I look forward to me with him and the process of that's in place is a process that will inform me and help me make my decisions CBS News political reporter Jake Rosen joins me now from West Palm Beach Florida Jake great to have you with me look heg is spending a a lot of time on Capitol Hill he says he's a different man we just heard that what's your read on whether he's making any progress in firming up this support well
I think one of the most telling people who's come out not in support and not against him so far was Iowa Senator Joanie erns someone who has been rumored among the Trump Circle down here as a potential replacement for Heth if if he were to withdraw himself from consideration for this position she said in an interview with Fox News today that she would has not committed and at least up until this point the meeting that she had with Pete heg Seth she he did not convince her for enough for full endorsement at this point in
time I think that's where a lot of these Senators kind of stand you just heard it from a couple right there of they want to see this play out in potentially a confirmation hearing but the real question that kind of overlooks all of this as we head towards Christmas is whether heg can it keeps his name in for long enough senior Trump adviser told CBS news that time is running out for heg to kind of prove himself on the hill obviously saw the full court press that he and his mother did yesterday in her interview
with Fox News for about 15 minutes talking about her son's you know marriage and and faults and that email that she wrote that we've reported on at CBS but we'll have to see what exactly develops over the next couple of days yeah that that was an important interview I caught that you know this is really all about political Capital too because we know there's behind the scenes talks about potential replacements for heg death you just mentioned one of them but he has said the president-elect is still supporting him what's the Trump team's confidence level with
the defense secretary pick at the moment based on your read well at least outwardly the Trump campaign has said that they support him all day for the last couple of days the Trump campaign has boosted positive messages from Trump sympathetic or Trump allies uh in the Republican Senate on Capitol Hill after their meetings boosting the images of heg shaking hands and defying the media like you also just saw there kind of rebuffing questions about his past Behavior saying he wants answer questions to the Senators directly not to the media not have kind of a show
trial in the halls of Congress that being said though we saw this happen almost exactly with Matt Gates who kept his name in the running kept his name in the running while Donald Trump did not pull him out himself all of a sudden at you know one you know 11: in the afternoon a couple weeks ago there was a full switch where Gates withdrew himself from consideration and the Trump campaign by later that night had a replacement lined up so that's in addition to potentially Florida Governor Ronda santis or Senator Ernst potentially there other names
already being floated ahead of time just in case this does kind of fall apart yeah it's a good comparison you make uh but Jake while I have you Elon Musk ve ramaswami they were also on Capitol Hill speaking with lawmakers about the Doge Department that Trump plans to have them leave uh how speaker Mike Johnson spoke about lawmakers meeting with the pair I just want to get your reaction to this let's listen and you're going to see a lot of change around here and in Washington and the way things are run uh we need to
make government more efficient and that is what this whole objective is it's what the Doge um effort will be about and you're going to see a bamal cooperation and it will be by the way bipartisan so Jake you know Elon Musk ramaswami why are they on Capitol Hill now I mean they don't need to be confirmed for their roles no they don't and what Mike Johnson was saying there is teasing out potential bipartisan cooperation on things I think there certainly is some you played some in the intro we heard uh other congressman especially Rana say
earlier today he was for the mission generally of cutting excess government spending but where there will be a deep diversion is in terms of the mass firings that Elon Musk and VI ramaswami have pitched what ramaswami pitched on the campaign Trail while he was running for president which was basically every other bureaucrat being fired across Washington that is not something that Democrats will go for nor will cutting entire Departments of the government um one notable comment on Capitol Hill today was Wyoming Senator Cynthia lumus who said that she wants the them to take on things
that Congress can't do which is recommending to Donald Trump things outside of uh the uh Congress yeah bipartisan support until you start cutting things that are important to people uh Jake Rosen thank you for your time appreciate it
