House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he still has lingering doubts about a children’s online safety bill that Elon Musk threw support behind this weekend.

‘There’s still some concern about the free speech components of that, and whether it might lead to further censorship by the government of valid, you know, conservative voices, for example. So we’re working through all that,’ Johnson told reporters at his weekly press conference Tuesday.

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is the most significant social media reform pushed by the Senate in decades. 

It breezed through Congress’ upper chamber in a 91 to 3 vote but hit a snag in the House of Representatives, where leaders have expressed concern about possible censorship and about the power it bestows on the Federal Trade Commission.

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of the Musk-owned social media platform X, announced over the weekend that they have worked with the Senate sponsors of the bill to alleviate some of those issues.

‘We’ve heard the pleas of parents and youth advocates who seek sensible guardrails across online platforms, and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) addresses that need. After working with the bill authors, I’m proud to share that we’ve made progress to further protect freedom of speech while maintaining safety for minors online,’ Yaccarino wrote on the platform this weekend. ‘We urge Congress and the House to pass the Kids Online Safety Act this year.’

It precipitated a pressure campaign over the weekend by allies of President-elect Donald Trump pushing the House to take up the bill. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders and Donald Trump Jr., were among those who sounded off, as well as Musk himself, who posted on X, ‘Protecting kids should always be priority #1.’

Johnson said Tuesday that he appreciated the efforts behind the legislation. He also suggested the effort could be renewed next year, with only two weeks left in the current congressional term.

‘I’m grateful for the hard work that’s been done. I’m grateful for the support behind it. Certainly, I think all of us, 100% of us, support the principle behind it,’ the speaker said.

‘But you’ve got to get this one right when you’re dealing with the regulation of free speech. You can’t go too far and have it be overbroad, but you want to achieve those objectives. So it’s essential that we get this issue right.

‘We are very optimistic that if it’s not done this year, that we can do that early next year with our Republican majorities, because it’s the Republican Party that has been working aggressively to protect children online.’

The bill’s leaders, Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., thanked Musk and Yaccarino for their work over the weekend.

‘These changes should eliminate once and for all the false narrative that this bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans,’ Blackburn and Blumenthal said. ‘We appreciate that this endorsement and revised text reflects their publicly stated goal of furthering free speech without fear of censorship. We reiterate X’s call to pass KOSA by the end of the year – it is clear that this legislation has overwhelming support from Congress.’

KOSA would put the onus on social media companies to prevent and mitigate potential harm that could be caused to users under age 17.

The bill would also force platforms to block addictive components for minor users and make it easier for minors to protect their information, among other measures.

What a difference a week makes.

As Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s defense secretary nominee, returns to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with more Republican senators, his once apparently teetering nomination now seems to be on much firmer ground.

While Hegseth’s confirmation is still far from a sure bet, a very public pronouncement of support from Trump, behind-the-scenes efforts by Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance, and Hegseth’s own determination seem to have resuscitated a nomination that appeared to be headed toward life support.

‘We look forward to earning these confirmation votes,’ a confident Hegseth said Monday night in an interview on Fox News’ ‘Hannity.’

In the wake of former Rep. Matt Gaetz,  the president-elect’s first attorney general nominee, ending his confirmation bid amid controversy, there has been a full-court press by Trump’s political orbit to bolster Hegseth in order to protect him and other controversial Cabinet picks.

‘If Trump world allowed a couple of establishment senators to veto a second nominee, it would have led to a feeding frenzy on Trump’s other nominees, and so the thinking in Trump world was we have to defend Pete not just for the sake of defending Pete, but also for the sake of defending our other nominees,’ a longtime Trump world adviser, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News.

Hegseth, an Army National Guard officer who deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and who until last month was a longtime Fox News host, has been the focus of a slew of reports spotlighting a series of drinking and sexual misconduct allegations, as well as a report alleging he mismanaged a veterans nonprofit organization that he once led.

Hegseth has denied allegations that he mistreated women but did reach a financial settlement with an accuser from a 2017 incident to avoid a lawsuit. He has vowed that he won’t drink ‘a drop of alcohol’ if confirmed as defense secretary.

Trump’s defense secretary nominee was interviewed hours after meeting a second time with Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate and a member of the Armed Services Committee, which will hold Hegseth’s confirmation hearings.

Ernst, a conservative lawmaker first elected to the Senate in 2014, is considered a pivotal vote in the confirmation battle over Hegseth, who in the past has questioned the role of women in combat.

The senator is also a survivor of sexual assault who has a strong legislative record of addressing sexual assault and harassment in the military.

After meeting with Hegseth, Ernst wrote in a statement Monday that ‘as I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.’

Ernst emphasized that ‘following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon and selecting a senior official who will uphold the roles and value of our servicemen and women – based on quality and standards, not quotas – and who will prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks.’

Hegseth, speaking with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, noted that ‘it was a great meeting. People don’t really know this. I’ve known Sen. Ernst for over 10 years. 

‘You get into these meetings, and you listen to senators – it’s an amazing advise and consent process – and you hear how thoughtful, serious, substantive they are on these key issues that pertain to our Defense Department,’ he continued. ‘And Joni Ernst is front and center on that. So to be able to have phone calls and meetings time and time again to talk over the issues is really, really important. The fact that she’s willing to support me through this process means a lot.’

Last week, after her first meeting with Hegseth, Ernst said in a social media post that she and Trump’s defense secretary nominee had a ‘frank and thorough’ conversation. 

A day later, when asked in an interview on Fox News’ ‘America’s Newsroom’ if she wasn’t ready to vote to confirm Hegseth, the senator replied, ‘I think you are right.’

Even Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a longtime Trump ally in the Senate, was expressing serious concerns about Hegseth’s nomination.

Fox News and other news organizations late last week reported that Trump was potentially considering nominating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as defense secretary as a possible replacement should Hegseth’s nomination falter.

But on Friday, Trump took to social media to praise Hegseth.

‘Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News,’ the president-elect wrote. And he praised Hegseth in a high-profile network TV interview over this past weekend.

Vance, who remains a senator from Ohio until he steps down to assume the vice presidency, has been working behind the scenes to consolidate support for Hegseth among his Republican colleagues in the Senate.

‘It’s fair to say that JD has been Pete’s biggest champion internally in Trump world and has spent a lot of time over the last two weeks helping shore up support for Pete among his colleagues in the Senate,’ a source in Vance’s political orbit told Fox News.

Meanwhile, Trump’s political team and allies – fueled by grassroots support for Hegseth – turned up the volume.

‘There will be no resource that we won’t use to go after those U.S. senators that vote against Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks or his other nominees,’ longtime Trump outside adviser Corey Lewandowski told Fox News.

Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s oldest son and MAGA powerhouse, took to social media to target wavering Republican senators.

‘If you’re a GOP Senator who voted for Lloyd Austin [President Biden’s defense secretary], but criticize @PeteHegseth, then maybe you’re in the wrong political party!’ Don Trump Jr. wrote in a social media post.

MAGA allies quickly targeted Ernst, with talk of a primary challenge when the senator faces re-election in 2026.

‘This is the red line. This is not a joke.… The funding is already being put together. Donors are calling like crazy. Primaries are going to be launched,’ said Charlie Kirk, an influential conservative activist and radio and TV host who co-founded and steers Turning Point USA.

Kirk, on his radio program, warned that ‘if you support the president’s agenda, you’re good. You’re marked safe from a primary. You go up against Pete Hegseth, the president repeatedly, then don’t be surprised, Joni Ernst, if all of a sudden you have a primary challenge in Iowa.’

State Attorney General Brenna Bird, a top Trump supporter in last January’s Iowa presidential caucuses, wrote a column on Breitbart urging Hegseth’s confirmation.

While she didn’t mention Ernst by name, Bird took aim at ‘D.C. politicians’ who ‘think they can ignore the voices of their constituents and entertain smears from the same outlets that have pushed out lies for years.’

And longtime Iowa-based conservative commentator and media personality Steve Deace took to social media and used his radio program to highlight that he would consider launching a primary challenge against Ernst.

Deace, who supported DeSantis in the Iowa caucuses, said, ‘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.’

Also helping Hegseth is his defiance.

Hegseth told reporters on Thursday that ‘this will not be a process tried in the media. I don’t answer to anyone in this group. None of you, not to that camera at all. I answer to President Trump, who received 76 million votes on behalf… and a mandate for change. I answer to the 100 senators who are part of this process and those in the committee. And I answer to my Lord and Savior and my wife and my family.’

And on Fox News’ ‘Hannity,’ Hegseth charged that ‘the left is trying to turn this into a trial in the media, a show trial. And we’re not going to let that happen.’

Fox News’ Emma Colton, Cameron Cawthorne, Tyler Olson, and Chad Pergram contributed to this story

Lunden Roberts, the mother of Hunter Biden’s child, Navy Joan Roberts, is backing President Biden’s decision to issue a sweeping pardon for his son. 

‘I think what Joe did is what the love of any parent would do and not everybody will understand that,’ Roberts said in a statement provided by her publisher, Skyhorse, to the DailyMail. ‘I’d like to see more of that love towards Navy Joan and hope that Biden will take the steps to become a grandparent for my daughter.’ 

Roberts went on to say that she believes that Hunter was ‘targeted because of who his dad is.’ 

‘I don’t know what it’s like to be president, so I can’t say what choices I would make if I was in Biden’s shoes, but I am a mother,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my child. No barrier I wouldn’t break for Navy Joan.’

‘Many people have done what he’s done and have never gotten in trouble,’ Roberts added. ‘But because his dad is president, he’s being held to a different set of circumstances.’ 

Despite repeatedly stating that he would not pardon Hunter, President Biden reversed course and granted clemency to his son for all offenses against the United States he committed or may have committed from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024. 

The sweeping pardon, therefore, covers, but is not limited to, Hunter’s conviction on federal gun charges in Delaware and his guilty plea on federal tax charges in California. He was due to be sentenced in both cases this month. 

Roberts penned a book published in August titled, ‘Out of the Shadows: My Life Inside the Wild World of Hunter Biden.’ 

The Arkansas native details how she met Hunter while she was in Washington, D.C., for school and while Hunter was at the height of his addiction to crack cocaine. 

She said she moved back home after becoming pregnant, and Hunter, already a father to three daughters with ex-wife Kathleen Buhle at the time, had grown distant. Roberts gave birth to their daughter, Navy, in August 2018. 

Hunter was also briefly involved with the widow of his late brother Beau Biden, and not long afterward, he married his current wife, Melissa Cohen Biden. The couple welcomed a son in March 2020 named Beau Biden Jr. 

The White House Christmas stocking display has included just six grandchildren for years, excluding Navy. President Biden had refused to acknowledge Navy as his grandchild until July 2023. 

A court-ordered paternity test confirmed Hunter as Navy’s father in 2020. Earlier this year, Roberts agreed to reduced child support payments in exchange for Hunter trying to build a relationship with his daughter. 

Roberts said Hunter has spoken with his daughter over Zoom. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and Skyhorse for additional comment. 

Seventy-seven Nobel Prize winners have come out against the nomination of environmental and health activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

In a letter first reported by the New York Times, the Nobel Laureates urge members of the United States Senate to reject RFK Jr.’s nomination, raising concerns about his ‘lack of credentials’ in health science or administration, opposition to vaccines and promotion of ‘conspiracy theories’ about mainstream medical treatments.  

‘Placing Mr. Kennedy in charge of DHHS would put the public’s health in jeopardy and undermine America’s global leadership in the health sciences,’ the letter cautions.

Kennedy, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, is an environmental lawyer and activist who founded the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit group accused of spreading misinformation on vaccines, including debunked claims that vaccination causes autism. President-elect Trump declared his intention to nominate Kennedy to lead HHS in November after Kennedy, who ran for president as an independent, endorsed Trump for president.  

The letter cites Kennedy’s opposition to widely-accepted public health interventions, including vaccination and the fluoridation of drinking water, to suggest his confirmation could lead to public harm. The Nobel Laureates also allude to his rejection of scientific evidence that shows H.I.V. causes AIDS. 

Additionally, the Nobel Laureates call Kennedy a ‘belligerent critic’ of the agencies he would oversee as Health Secretary, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health.

Kennedy has accused the FDA of ‘corruption’ and called for ‘entire departments’ at the agency to be cleared out. He has also called the CDC’s vaccine division a ‘fascist enterprise’ and accused health agencies of being captured by the pharmaceutical industry, according to NBC News.  

The Nobel Laureates insist the next health secretary ‘should continue to nurture and improve — not to threaten — these important and highly respected institutions and their employees.’ 

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If confirmed, Kennedy would oversee a vast health policy bureaucracy that includes 13 agencies, operates with a $2 trillion budget and administers Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and other crucial federal health programs. 

The Department of Health and Human Services guides public health policy for disease treatment and prevention; provides grants for medical research and community health programs; assists with child welfare programs, including adoption, foster care, child care and child abuse; develops bioterrorism defense strategies; resettles refugees who seek asylum in the United States and much more.

‘President Trump has asked me to do three things: 1. Clean up the corruption in our government health agencies. 2. Return those agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science. 3. Make America Healthy Again by ending the chronic disease epidemic,’ Kennedy posted on X after his nomination.

Kennedy is not the only recent HHS nominee to face public scrutiny over his apparent lack of health credentials. Conservative groups opposed President Biden’s 2020 nomination of then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead the department on grounds that Becerra, a former congressman and lawyer, had no related health experience. 

The Senate confirmed Becerra 50-49, with the support of all Democrats and just one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. 

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, praised women in the military as some of the ‘greatest warriors’ after critics took issue with comments he made about women not being fit to serve in combat roles. 

‘I also want an opportunity here to clarify comments that have been misconstrued, that I somehow don’t support women in the military, some of our greatest warriors, our best warriors out there are women,’ he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday. 

Female service members ‘love our nation, want to defend that flag, and they do it every single day around the globe. I’m not presuming anything,’ he added. 

‘But after President Trump asked me to be his Secretary of Defense, should I get the opportunity to do that, I look forward to being a secretary for all our warriors, men and women, for the amazing contributions they make in our military.’

Hegseth will spend this week meeting with senators on Capitol Hill to court the 50 votes he needs to secure the Cabinet level position. 

In a November 7 episode of the Shawn Ryan podcast, which aired mere days before Hegseth, a former Fox News employee, was tapped to serve as Defense Secretary, the nominee said: ‘I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.’

Hegseth asserted that women serving in combat roles ‘hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal’ and ‘has made fighting more complicated.’

Hegseth noted that he was not necessarily advocating for making the change right now, commenting; ‘Imagine the demagoguery in Washington, D.C., if you were actually making the case for, you know, ‘We should scale back women in combat.’’

‘As the disclaimer for everybody out there,’ he added, ‘we’ve all served with women and they’re great, it’s just our institutions don’t have to incentivize that in places where … over human history, men are more capable.’

He said, ‘I love women service members who contribute amazingly,’ but asserted that ‘everything about women serving together makes the situation more complicated and complication in combat means casualties are worse.’

He also criticized the upper echelons of military leadership for changing standards and prioritizing filling diversity quotas above combat effectiveness. He pointed to a 2015 study by the Marine Corps that found that integrated male-female units did ‘drastically worse’ in terms of combat effectiveness than all-male units.

‘Between bone density and lung capacity and muscle strength, men and women are just different,’ he said. ‘So, I’m ok with if you maintain the standards just where they are for everybody, and if there’s some, you know, hard-charging female that meets that standard, great, cool, join the infantry battalion. But that is not what’s happened. What has happened is the standards have lowered.’

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, celebrated that he had a ‘great meeting’ with Sen. Joni Ernst after the Iowa Republican slow-walked an endorsement of the Cabinet nominee. 

‘It was a great meeting. People don’t really know this. I’ve known Sen. Ernst for over 10 years. I knew her when she was a state senator running to be the first female combat veteran,’ Hegseth told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an exclusive interview Monday evening. ‘And we supported her in that effort, and have continued to.’

‘You get into these meetings and you to listen to senators –  it’s an amazing advise and consent process — and you hear how thoughtful, serious, substantive they are on these key issues that pertain to our Defense Department,’ he continued. ‘And Joni Ernst is front and center on that. So to able to have phone calls and meetings time and time again to talk over the issues is really, really important. The fact that she’s willing to support me through this process means a lot.’

Hegseth has been spending his days on Capitol Hill meeting with Republican senators to rally support as he battles allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking and mismanaging a veterans nonprofit organization. Hegseth has denied the allegations and vowed that he won’t drink ‘a drop of alcohol’ if confirmed to Trump’s cabinet.

Among Hegseth’s meetings on Monday, he again met with Ernst, who sits on the ​​Senate Armed Services Committee, after meeting with her last week. 

Last week, Ernst withheld committing to voting in favor of Hegseth, but hinted Monday that she is beginning to support the Trump nominee. 

Ernst wrote in a statement Monday that ‘as I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.’

She added in her statement that ‘following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon and selecting a senior official who will uphold the roles and value of our servicemen and women – based on quality and standards, not quotas – and who will prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks.’

​​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. 

Fox News Digital reported Sunday, following Ernst’s initial hesitation to support Hegseth, that Trump’s allies were expected to ramp up criticisms against her as she stalls on offering support to Trump’s secretary of defense pick.

‘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. 

Hegseth continued in his interview with Hannity that he will also meet with Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, who Hannity identified as a pair of more liberal Republican senators compared to their colleagues. 

‘We will be meeting with Sen. Collins on Wednesday and Sen. Murkowski on Tuesday. And let me tell you, Sean, the founders got this right. This is not a trivial process. This is a real thing: advise and consent of a nominee who the president has chosen. And I’m so grateful that President Trump would have the faith in me to lead the Defense Department, to choose me to do that. But this advise and consent process, meeting with all the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and they all have great questions, and my answers are for them,’ Hegseth said. 

The SecDef nominee also pushed back on claims of impropriety during the interview, arguing ‘the left is trying to turn this into a trial in the media –  show trial –  and we’re not going to let that happen.’

‘I’m going to walk into the door of every one of these senators with just, as an open book, willing to answer their questions, because they deserve answers. … I’ve heard great things about all of these senators and the questions they want to ask, and we look forward to earning these votes. That’s what it’s about, ultimately earning the votes through the committee and through the entire U.S. Senate,’ he said. 

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 when he doubled down on his support of Hegseth in a Truth Social post on Friday, 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!!!’

Fox News Digital’s Cameron Cawthorne and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

President-elect Trump on Sunday nominated Harmeet K. Dhillon as the assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Justice Department.

Trump said Dhillon has consistently protected civil liberties throughout her career, including taking on Big Tech for censoring free speech, representing Christians who were not allowed to pray together during the COVID-19 pandemic, and suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their employees.

‘Harmeet is one of the top election lawyers in the country, fighting to ensure that all, and ONLY, legal votes are counted,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia Law School and clerked in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.’

‘Harmeet is a respected member of the Sikh religious community,’ he added. ‘In her new role at the DOJ, Harmeet will be a tireless defender of our Constitutional Rights and will enforce our Civil Rights and Election Laws FAIRLY and FIRMLY.’

Trump also wrote in a separate post that Mark Paoletta will return as general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget.

In the role, Trump said, Paoletta will work closely with the Department of Government Efficiency to cut the size of ‘our bloated government bureaucracy and root out wasteful and anti-American spending.’

Trump called Paoletta a brilliant and tenacious lawyer, crediting him with working to advance his agenda in the first term, while leading the charge to find funding to build a wall at the southern border.

Mark is a partner at the law firm Shaerr Jaffe LLP and a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America.

‘Mark has served as a Chief Counsel for Oversight and Investigations in Congress for a decade and was a key lawyer in the White House Counsel’s Office to confirm Justice Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991,’ Trump wrote. ‘Mark is a conservative warrior who knows the ‘ins and outs’ of Government – He will help us, Make America Great Again!’

And finally, Trump announced that KC Crosbie is running to become the next co-chair of the Republican National Committee to replace Lara Trump.

‘Lara, together with Chairman Michael Whatley, transformed the RNC into a lean, focused, and powerful machine that is empowering the MAGA Movement for many years to come,’ the president-elect said. ‘Thank you for your hard work, Lara, in MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’

The incoming president also said Crosbie has helped ‘real’ Republicans get elected across the U.S. and would make a tremendous co-chair.

‘KC will work on continuing to ensure a highly functioning, fiscally responsible, and effective RNC that makes Election Integrity a highest priority,’ Trump said. ‘KC Crosbie has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Co-Chair of the RNC!’

: Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is looking for answers from the FBI after President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the bureau was reportedly targeted by Iranian hackers. 

‘For an Iranian-backed group to have targeted the potential next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is extremely alarming,’ the North Carolina senator wrote in a Monday letter to FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. ‘Also alarming is the speed at which sensitive and potentially classified information about this attack spread to the news media.’

It was reported by several outlets last week that Kash Patel, who Trump has chosen to be his nominee for FBI director in his new administration, was the target of an Iranian hacking attempt.

In response to reports of the hack attempt, Trump transition spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer told Fox News Digital, ‘Kash Patel was a key part of the first Trump administration’s efforts against the terrorist Iranian regime and will implement President Trump’s policies to protect America from adversaries as the FBI Director.’ 

In his letter, Tillis pointed to various law enforcement sources that apparently communicated with news publications. 

‘As you know, it is imperative that the FBI and other intelligence agencies maintain confidentiality to ensure the American people are safe from enemies at home and abroad. The release of this information raises major national security and personal safety concerns,’ he wrote.

The Republican asked Abbate a series of questions, including whether FBI employees shared information about the cyberattack with either the media or with third parties that could’ve given it to the media.

The FBI told Fox News Digital that it received the letter but had no further comment.

Patel has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill and meeting with senators as he looks to shore up support before Trump is inaugurated in January.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate and a member of the Armed Services Committee, has signaled toward supporting President-elect Trump’s nominee for defense secretary.

After meeting on Monday for a second time with Pete Hegseth, Ernst wrote in a statement that ‘as I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.’

An Army National Guard officer who deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and who until last month was a longtime Fox News host, Hegseth has been the focus of a slew of reports spotlighting a series of drinking and sexual misconduct allegations. 

Hegseth has denied allegations that he mistreated women and has vowed that he won’t drink ‘a drop of alcohol’ if confirmed as defense secretary. A separate report showcased allegations Hegseth mismanaged a veterans nonprofit organization that he once led.

Ernst, a conservative lawmaker first elected to the Senate in 2014, is considered a pivotal vote in the confirmation battle over Hegseth, who in the past has questioned the role of women in combat.

The senator is also a survivor of sexual assault who has a strong legislative record of addressing sexual assault and harassment in the military.

She said in her statement that ‘following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon and selecting a senior official who will uphold the roles and value of our servicemen and women – based on quality and standards, not quotas – and who will prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks.’

Ernst’s office told Fox News on Monday that ‘the senator has consistently followed the process, which she has said since the beginning, and doing her job as a United States senator.’

After meeting with Hegseth last week, Ernst said in a social media post that she and Trump’s defense secretary nominee had a ‘frank and thorough’ conversation. 

A day later, when asked in an interview on Fox News’ ‘America’s Newsroom’ if she wasn’t ready to vote to confirm Hegseth, the senator replied, ‘I think you are right.’

Ahead of his second meeting with the senator, Hegseth told Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie, ‘I’m really looking forward to meeting with Sen. Ernst. I appreciate her. I respect her background and her service. She’s incredible. And the ongoing conversation has been very fruitful.’

Over the past few days, a high-profile Trump ally has threatened to fuel a primary challenge against Ernst when she’s up for re-election in 2026.

‘This is the red line. This is not a joke. … The funding is already being put together. Donors are calling like crazy. Primaries are going to be launched,’ said Charlie Kirk, an influential conservative activist and radio and TV host who co-founded and steers Turning Point USA.

Kirk, on his radio program, warned that ‘if you support the president’s agenda, you’re good. You’re marked safe from a primary. You go up against Pete Hegseth, the president repeatedly, then don’t be surprised, Joni Ernst, if all of a sudden you have a primary challenge in Iowa.’

In Iowa, conservative commentator and media personality Steve Deace took to social media and used his radio program to highlight that he would consider launching a primary challenge against Ernst.

‘Defeating an incumbent US Senator takes high name ID, connections, and funding potential,’ Deace wrote. ‘I’m one of the few people in Iowa with all three.’

Deace, who supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in this year’s Iowa GOP presidential caucus, said, ‘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.’

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a top Trump supporter in the Iowa caucuses, wrote a column on Breitbart urging Hegseth’s confirmation.

While she didn’t mention Ernst by name, Bird took aim at ‘D.C. politicians’ who ‘think they can ignore the voices of their constituents and entertain smears from the same outlets that have pushed out lies for years.’

David Kochel, a veteran GOP consultant who was a key strategist and early backer of Ernst during her successful 2014 Senate campaign, told Fox News that ‘Joni Ernst is doing what the Constitution says what her job is, which is advise and consent.’

‘I think that everybody should just give her the space to do her job, and making threats to a combat veteran usually doesn’t work out great,’ Kochel said.

Trump has praised Hegseth in the past few days.

‘Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News,’ the president-elect wrote on Friday.

But Fox News and other news organizations have reported that Trump is potentially considering nominating DeSantis as defense secretary as a possible replacement should Hegseth’s nomination falter.

Ernst’s name has also come up as a possible replacement.

But the senator said last week in an interview with RealClearPolitics that ‘I am not seeking to be secretary of defense.’

Fox News’ Chad Pergram, Tyler Olson and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.