‘Political price to pay’: Trump orbit expected to ramp up Ernst criticisms while she withholds Hegseth support

President-elect Donald Trump’s allies are expected to ramp up criticisms against Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst as she stalls on offering support to Trump’s secretary of defense pick, Pete Hegseth. 

“It’s really this simple: If you oppose President Trump’s nominees, you oppose the Trump agenda and there will be a political price to pay for that. We are well aware that there are certain establishment Senators trying to tank the President’s nominees to make him look weak and damage him politically, and we’re just not going to allow that to happen,” a top Trump ally told Fox News Digital. 

​​Trump nominated Hegseth, a former National Guard officer, as secretary of defense last month, saying “with Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.” Hegseth was a host on “Fox & Friends Weekend” before Trump’s nomination. 

Hegseth has since been on Capitol Hill meeting with Republican senators to rally support as he battles allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing. 

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Ernst sits on the ​​Senate Armed Services Committee, which will hold the secretary of defense nominee’s confirmation hearing, and met with Hegseth last week. Ernst, however, has withheld committing to voting in favor of Hegseth.

​​”Pete Hegseth and I will continue our constructive conversations as we move forward together in this process. We plan to meet again next week. At a minimum, we agree that he deserves the opportunity to lay out his vision for our warfighters at a fair hearing,” Ernst said last week after meeting with Hegseth.

Hegseth added in his own comment on the meeting with Ernst, that he had a “substantive conversation with Senator Ernst, I appreciate her sincere commitment to defense policy, and I look forward to meeting with her again next week.”

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Reports surfaced last week alleging Trump had lost faith in his nominee as Democrats slammed the choice and some Republicans, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, remarked the allegations against Hegseth were “disturbing.” 

Trump bucked the claims last week when he doubled down on his support of Hegseth in a Truth Social post, while Vice President-elect JD Vance also said the Trump team is “​​not abandoning this nomination.”

​​”Pete Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday. “He will be a fantastic, high ​​energy, Secretary of Defense, one who leads with charisma and skill. Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!”

Ernst is a ​​retired Iowa National Guard lieutenant colonel,​ and spoke before the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday where she addressed her advocacy for survivors of military sexual assault. 

“I am a survivor of sexual assault, so I have worked very heavily on sexual assault measures within the military, so I’d like to hear a little more about that, and I’d like to hear about the role of women in our great United States military,” Ernst said, according to Politico. 

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She added that she was “excited” to meet with Hegseth, “but there will be a very thorough vetting before he moves forward.”

Hegseth will head back to Capitol Hill this week to rally support for his nomination as conservatives and Trump supporters intensify their criticisms against Ernst and other colleagues who have stalled on supporting Hegseth despite voting to confirm Biden nominees nearly four years ago. 

“If you’re a GOP Senator who voted for Lloyd Austin, but criticize @PeteHegseth, then maybe you’re in the wrong political party!” Don Trump Jr. wrote on X.

“Joni Ernst sucked as a Senator long before this. The rest of the country is just now finding that out. However, defeating an incumbent US Senator takes high name ID, connections, and funding potential,” talk show host Steve Deace wrote on X. “I’m one of the few people in Iowa with all three. I don’t want to be a Senator, but I am willing to primary her for the good of the cause if I’m assured I have Trump’s support going in. Or I am willing to throw my support and network behind someone else President Trump prefers to primary Joni Ernst instead.”

A conservative nonprofit, Building America’s Future, told the Daily Caller it is spending half a million dollars in ads supporting Hegseth as SecDef, while calling on voters to rally their respective senators to support the nominee. 

“America needs a Defense Secretary who knows what it means to fight, and understands the price of freedom. Pete Hegseth is a patriot, a decorated combat veteran and a warrior who will stop at nothing to keep America safe,” the ad says. 

“The Deep State is trying to stop his nomination, but Pete isn’t backing down. Call your senator today and urge them to confirm Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense,” the ad continues. 

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Ernst has previously found herself at odds with the Republican Party and Trump, including in comments both during the first Trump administration and over the summer where she spoke favorably of transgender individuals serving in the military. Under the Trump administration in 2018, the 45th president officially authorized the Pentagon to ban transgender individuals from joining the military, with limited exceptions, after making the pledge to do so in 2017.

Fox News Digital reached out to Ernst’s press office on Sunday but did not immediately receive a response. 

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.