Hello, and welcome back to The Best & The Brightest. I’m Leigh Ann
Caldwell, counting down the days to White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend. This is a particularly good year to support the W.H.C.A., since the White House is trying to delegitimize the organization, which defends press access and more. As MSNBC’s Steph Ruhle said on The 11th Hour last night, it was unfortunate when “other media outlets” failed to “stand in unison” with the AP and Reuters after the administration restricted their White House access. Anyway,
say hello if you see me. I’ll be there, even if Trump is skipping the dinner again this year…
Tonight, I explore how Republicans on Capitol Hill are thinking about Pete Hegseth. No, there’s no groundswell of condemnation for his reportedly chaotic management of the Pentagon or Signalgate 2.0. In fact,
there’s nary a raised eyebrow—many Republicans had little faith that Hegseth could do the job well to begin with, and while he’s proving them right, it’s not their fight.
But first…
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The race to replace Durbin: It was widely anticipated around Capitol Hill and Illinois political circles that Senator Dick Durbin would decide not to seek reelection this cycle. After all, the 80-year-old has served five terms in the Senate and seven in the House. Today, he finally made it official, setting off a scramble to replace both his seat and his
Senate Democratic leadership roles as whip and ranking member on the Judiciary Committee.
Durbin’s retirement is a big deal among Senate Democrats who have been waiting a long time to climb the leadership ladder. Durbin enjoyed a committee gavel (when in the majority) and a plush Capitol office, along with the other trappings of leadership. Rebellious efforts inside the caucus to require that he pick just one senior role never went anywhere. During the last leadership election in
December, some younger senators discussed challenging him for his whip role or committee perch in the name of generational change, but the effort fizzled when it became clear that Durbin was seriously considering retiring. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, Durbin’s chief deputy whip, is a leading contender for the caucus’s number two spot, but others could jump in. Sheldon Whitehouse is next in line to lead Judiciary Dems—a job he has coveted for
years.
Meanwhile, Illinois Democrats are salivating over the rare opportunity of an open Senate seat and already jockeying for key endorsements and donors. Several House members, including Reps. Lauren Underwood, Sean Casten, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, are presumed to be considering a run. So is Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton.
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- Announcing Announcement Week!: It’s the beginning of the second quarter, a time when lawmakers and candidates often make announcements that they’re running (or retiring), pegged to the fundraising cycle. An early announcement, of course, allows time to post a strong fundraising number by the end of the quarter. (A dismal fundraising quarter, especially a first one, is optically and operationally difficult to recover from—although it can, and has, been done.)
This week, Rep.
Andy Barr announced a run for Senate to replace the retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell; Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan announced a run for Senate to replace outgoing Sen. Gary Peters; Democrat Jordan Wood announced he’s running against Sen. Susan Collins in Maine; and Republican Jerrod Sessler filed paperwork for a third try against G.O.P. Rep. Dan Newhouse
in Washington. Earlier this month, former G.O.P. Rep. Mike Rogers announced he’s running for Senate in Michigan; and, in a race I wrote about on Sunday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging Senator John Cornyn.
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News and notes on the internal Capitol Hill conversation about Pete
Hegseth’s latest security snafu.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is over the barrel again: News
reports of a second Signal chat about the Houthi strikes in Yemen—this time including his wife, brother, and lawyer—and the unraveling of his top staff, including longtime loyalists, have created the inescapable impression that he’s in over his head. Over the past several days, Hegseth has fecklessly tried to deflect blame by impugning the media, even while hunting for Easter eggs at the White House with his kids. And a mid-afternoon post on X, from the Defense Department’s official account, said: “STILL HERE. STILL CRUSHING THE ENEMY.” Sure, it was a reference to the U.S. Navy presence in the Arabian Sea—but it could have been a message from Hegseth himself.
Democrats, meanwhile, are calling for Hegseth to be fired or step down. But proclamations of support from Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Donald Trump Jr.
indicate that he’s not going anywhere imminently. Military recruitment is up, after all—a key metric for Trump. Still, it’s hard to imagine that the bad headlines will stop anytime soon. On Sunday, the D.O.D.’s former top spokesman hinted darkly of more shoes to drop.
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Meanwhile, Republicans on Capitol Hill are taking their cues from the White House.
According to Republican aides I’ve spoken to, reports of Hegseth’s second Signal chat have been mostly met with a shrug. Many noted that it wasn’t an entirely separate incident, but just a continuation of the same Houthi PC Small Group controversy that exploded in the media a month ago. That security breach is
already the subject of a bipartisan investigation in the Senate Armed Services Committee, although it’s unclear how much work has been done. One senior Republican aide rhetorically asked me, “What’s going on with the Signal investigation?”
The mismanagement at the Pentagon, however, could become a more practical problem—it’s a major distraction that will undermine Hegseth’s ability to do his job, another Republican aide told me. The White House hasn’t conducted any formal outreach to
Republicans about Hegseth, I’m told by several sources, a sign that the administration isn’t worried about defections and pressure from Capitol Hill. And yet it’s notable that only a few lawmakers are speaking out in defense of the SecDef. (Sen. Markwayne Mullin is apparently willing to risk his life for him.) A couple others have offered vehement, but less dramatic,
defenses for Hegseth, including Sens. Eric Schmitt and Jim Banks, two of Trump’s most loyal supporters in the Senate.
Plus, I’m told that Republicans are in no mood for another confirmation process, especially after being bruised by the intense political pressure to back Hegseth amid allegations of mismanagement of Concerned Veterans for America, alleged heavy drinking, and a messy personal life. Sens. Mitch McConnell, Lisa
Murkowski, and Susan Collins are likely pleased they voted against him.
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Some Republicans also fear that a replacement candidate would be even more challenging.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who was floated before Hegseth was chosen, is an unlikely pick—he’s the one who created the Houthi group chat in the first place. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another previous contender, would be unlikely to win over MAGA. A number of Senate Republicans worry that a replacement could be even more isolationist: One Republican said the hawks fear someone like Elbridge Colby, who supports retreating from Europe
and the Middle East and focusing on China, and who was recently confirmed as the Pentagon’s policy chief despite many misgivings from the more centrist wing of the party. They have little hope that Trump would opt for a more traditional defense secretary after tumultuous relationships with top Pentagon officials during his first
term.
Some grumbling about Hegseth does crop up in normal conversations on the Hill, of course. The firing of three loyal aides and the sidelining of a chief of staff amid reports of infighting and distrust do not paint a picture of stellar management. But among Republicans, only Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska has openly
questioned whether Hegseth should stay in his job. “It’s hard to regain a reputation when it’s thrown away,” Bacon told me. “The troops and Congress need to be able to trust the SecDef.”
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Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general, represents one of the three Republican
districts that Kamala Harris won. He outperformed Trump by more than six points, which means he can cross the president without the standard Republican fear of electoral repercussions (in fact, it may even help him). Bacon hasn’t seen the second Signal chat himself, but worries about inconsistencies in Hegseth’s defense compared with what the press is reporting. If Hegseth is lying about the contents of the chat, he will have “zero credibility,” he told me. Nevertheless, Bacon
said he’s spoken with members of Congress who think the Signal chat was “wrong,” but aren’t inclined to make it their problem right now.
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Speaking of nominees, Trump pulled Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination as
ambassador to the United Nations nearly four weeks ago, allegedly to shore up House Republicans’ margin and avoid another special election. Since then, Stefanik has had time to stew; negotiate a new, made-up role in House Republican leadership; and float a run for New York governor. Meanwhile, there has been zero chatter about a new U.N. ambassador nominee. “I haven’t heard a peep,” one plugged-in Republican told me. This is rare in a town filled with rumors, speculation, and jockeying for jobs,
and it underscores how little Trump cared about the position in the first place.
The president, after all, has been highly critical of the United Nations. In his first weeks in office, he withdrew the U.S.
from the U.N. Human Rights Council and prohibited U.S. funding from being deployed to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. As Trump readies a budget to send to Congress that is widely expected to slash funding for the U.N., Reuters reports that the administration also plans to propose massive cuts to the U.N.’s peacekeeping efforts—for which the U.S. currently provides the largest share of the funding at 27 percent, per
Reuters. Curiously, while the new State Department reorganization chart that caused an uproar yesterday does include the position of U.N. emissary, the designation is formatted oddly,
with a dotted bubble line instead of a solid one like every other position in the org chart—almost as if it could be erased. I’ve asked the State Department for an explanation but haven’t heard back.
The U.N. ambassadorship was mostly Stefanik’s idea, anyway. She would have gotten to live in her home state, but in a glamorous $15 million condo in
Midtown rather than the greater Albany area. She would also have been able to stay out of the day-to-day political warfare in Washington while still promoting Trump’s America First agenda at an institution that conservatives love to hate. It would have given her stronger foreign policy chops and set her up nicely for a future role as secretary of state, or perhaps something even more prominent, like V.P. or a run for president. It’s peak Stefanik, really—landing a job with little risk and high
reward.
The White House did not provide a timeline of when the president will fill the role. For now, that pricey condo sits empty.
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