Republican Senator Salutes Pete Hegseth On CNN: He’s ‘Willing to Investigate’ And ‘Even Fire’ Close Friends He Hired

CNN’s Dana Bash interviewed Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) on Wednesday and pressed the Republican leader on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s fitness to stay in his role following revelations he shared sensitive military information in a second Signal group chat.

“Senator, you voted to confirm Pete Hegseth. And when that first signal chat that Hegseth was part of became public, you said this. You said, quote, it has got to be the last time something this big and dumb happens. Now, we now know that he texted military operation plans in a separate Signal chat that included his wife and his brother. Do you still have faith in Secretary Hegseth?’ Bash asked.

“Yeah, Dana, I do, and thank you for the opportunity. I do have faith in him, and I think that the episode that you’re referencing was actually prior to this most recent one. And I would hope that he’s learned, I’m confident he has– I’m confident that Pete Hegseth can still be and will be a great Secretary of Defense, he’s gonna need some help around him,” Cramer said, adding:

I think one of the things he has lacked in the early days is some real expertise, institutional expertise in the building. And that’s part of why he’s there, is to bust up the club a bit. But I think the monster that is the Pentagon was a bigger monster, perhaps, than he even thought. So no, I think he’s doing fine. I think he’s gonna be an excellent secretary. But we may need to put some help around him that’s reliable, that’s stable, and that’s not so contrary to him being there.

“Well, that’s really interesting because so far the people who have been fired, the people who have left, are not sort of long-time members of what many people in your party call the deep state. They’re people who are card-carrying conservatives, and some of the people that were there, who were fired, have been long-time friends of his. So, to what are you or to whom are you referring, and when it comes to the people who have not been around him, who are not supportive enough?” Bash pushed back.

“Yeah, so it’s not just a matter of being supportive of him. It’s the inter-agency rivalries that he’s bumping up against. And then some of those people that are good friends of his are also bumping against– Now, to his credit, I think it’s a real strength that he is willing to investigate and even fire close friends when they’re suspected of doing things that are unsafe to our men and women in the military. That’s really, I think, demonstrates his commitment to the job and to his own priorities. So, obviously, you know—” Cramer replied as Bash interjected:

Forgive me, who do you think needs to get in here? Can you name names or at least the kinds of people?

“Yeah, well I can give you some, the kinds of people, I used the word institutional a little bit ago. And I think it’s important, you can on the one hand be a disruptor, and we like disruptors and Pete Hegseth certainly is one, Donald Trump is one. I talked to the president only about an hour ago about this very situation,” Cramer replied, adding:

And I think though at the same time when you’re going into the belly of the beast it doesn’t hurt to have some of the beasts organisms on your side and to know how to, nothing else, just maneuver the place to be able to navigate the land mines and the and the some of the rich traditions some of which serve us well.

And some of which have not served us well so you know I think there are some people I certainly have some in mind that I think would be helpful to Pete and I think we should not resist so quickly people who have been part of the establishment, if you will, for a long time. It takes a mix, and I think that’s what you’re going to see shake out, ultimately, in this entire administration.

“You spoke about this with the president an hour ago. Were you giving him recommendations?” Bash followed up.

“Well, let me put it this way. I started out by giving him my full support and suggesting my commitment to helping Pete Hegseth be the most successful Secretary of Defense in history,” Cramer responded, adding:

And that’s what I want to do because I think he has that potential. I think that the… The warriors love him. I’ve talked to a number of them just in the last couple of days, in fact, who really liked the mission, particularly the domestic mission and the border mission.

But at the same time, the world’s on fire, and it demands American leadership in a big way. And I think that he could use some of that help. And so my commitment to the president was that. And then I said, let’s have a further conversation about what types of people and what roles they could play.

Watch the clip above via CNN.