Convicted felon President-Elect Trump’s transition team were “blindsided” by the credible evidence that his Defense Secretary nominee/Fox and Friends Weekend host Pete Hegseth is a rapist when they thought all they were getting was an extremely unqualified far right asshole who was kicked off National Guard duty for Biden’s inauguration after being flagged as an “insider threat” due to his Nazi-ish tattoos, the Wall Street Journal reports on the next most vulnerable of Donald’s top picks.

“This is another instance of people being blindsided, so I think there’s rising frustration there,” a Trump minion familiar with the transition team’s thinking told the Journal. While the fat fuck is still behind Hegseth for now, “if this continues to be a drumbeat and the press coverage continues to be bad, particularly on TV, then I think there is a real chance that he loses Trump’s confidence.”

Following meetings with Senators on Thursday, Hegseth told reporters that “the matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared,” even though paying off the accuser doesn’t actually mean “cleared.” Hegseth’s lawyer has acknowledged the sexual encounter but claimed it was consensual, and the accuser hasn’t spoken publicly. Speaking to NOTUS, several Republican senators seemed a little less edgy about Hegseth than they were with Matt Gaetz. “I’m sure members will be advised, also, to the fact that no charges were brought,” said Kansas Senator Roger Wicker. “And that the allegations are in dispute.” Texan John Cornhole Cornyn said “We’re not going to confirm these people based on press reports,” Reminded by a reporter that it was from a police report, he added, “Oh, OK, well, that’s hearsay too… We’re not going to decide based on pieces of the story. We want the whole story.” Sounds like they really want to go down this road.