Trump Threatens GOP Senators Who Oppose His Cabinet Nominees for ‘Stupid Reasons’: ‘They Probably Would Be Primaried’

President-elect Donald Trump warned Republican senators who oppose his Cabinet nominees that they would likely face primary challenges at a press conference on Monday.

Trump issued said warning after being asked, “should senators who oppose your nominees or Cabinet nominees, should they be primaried?”

“If they are unreasonable. I’ll give you a different answer, an answer that you’ll be shocked to hear,” began Trump. “If they’re unreasonable, if they’re opposing somebody for political reasons or stupid reasons, I would say — has nothing to do with me –I would say they probably would be primaried”.

“But if they’re reasonable, fair, and really disagree with something or somebody, I could see that happening. But I do believe that if they’re unrea-, I think we have great people. I think we have a great, a great group of people. Pam has been unbelievably received. You take a look, Pam Bondi. So many have been just unbelievably received,” he continued. “I think Pete Hegseth is making tremendous strides over the last week. He’s going to be great, look, he went to Princeton, he went to Harvard, he was a great student there. But he really was, from the first day I met him, all he wanted to talk about was military. He’s just a military guy. I think it’s a natural, this was my idea.”

Trump comments come on the heels of multiple reports about Trump’s pressure campaign on behalf of Hegseth, his defense secretary-designate whose nomination has been imperiled by a number of scandals and accusations, including a sexual assault allegation.

According to Politico, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) changed her mind about Hegseth after “allies of Trump adopted an approach that is not novel for the president-elect and his followers: Make life extremely uncomfortable for anyone who dares to oppose him.”

One Trump ally told the outlet that “Joni, I’m told, got the message loud and clear” after “receiving an onslaught of criticism from MAGA activists.”