Washington DC - Republicans close to President Donald Trump are saying he's pushing for Tennessee Governor-elect Marsha Blackburn to appoint Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to her soon-to-be vacant seat in the US Senate, new reports indicate. The news comes at a peculiar time, seeing as retired Navy admiral Nancy Lacore – who Hegseth abruptly fired in August 2025 – just flipped a House seat in South Carolina, giving her a Congressional platform to exercise oversight on Hegseth.

Secretary of Defense Hegseth is not showing any signs that he may soon leave his role.

Amid all the latest chatter about Hegseth being ousted from his role – with Trump saying one thing publicly but reportedly telling other Republicans that he wants Blackburn to appoint Hegseth to her Senate seat – he's instead focusing on other things, like defending the Iran War and brushing off the articles of impeachment that Republican Rep. Thomas Massie from Kentucky plans to bring against him on November 9.

On Thursday, two days after the midterms, former Democratic Rep. Christopher Hale reported on X that Trump is "encouraging" Governor-elect Blackburn to appoint Hegseth to her US Senate seat, noting "Blackburn could resign imminently."

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Nearly an hour after he posted about this on X, ABC News reported that Trump plans to keep Hegseth in his role as Defense Secretary.

These reports came after news broke that Lacore defeated Republican Jenny Honeycutt in South Carolina's First Congressional District race, a seat that was previously held by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace since 2021. This victory gives Lacore – who Hegseth fired without cause in 2025 – a platform to excerise oversight on Hegseth.

It's unclear if Trump's apparent push to have Blackburn appoint Hegseth to her Senate seat is related to Lacore's win in South Carolina, but Hegseth doesn't appear too concerned.

Shortly after 3 PM on Thursday, Hegseth posted a lengthy video on X, talking about his views that being transgender is a mental illness, "white rage" isn't real, and, in the video's final moments, he briefly addressed the "sham" articles of impeachment being brought against him.

"Their policies don't work, so their obsession with political theater, disguised as power, drives them to try to destroy their opponent," Hegseth said.

The representative who is bringing forth the latest articles of impeachment against Hegseth is a Republican.

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"Didn't work against President Trump, and it won't work with me," Hegseth declared.

Amid the numerous topics he brought up in his video, Hegseth did not address the reports about him possibly being appointed a Senate seat in Tennessee.