Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa has seemingly warmed up to Pete Hegseth, the nominee to head the Department of Defense, despite hesitating behind closed doors to back him. Ernst and Hegseth met for the second time on Monday after initially meeting last week. Following the first meeting, Ernst said the two had a "frank and thorough conversation" but refrained from formally endorsing him. Ernst, who has spent a large part of her career advocating for victims of sexual assault in the military, was initially thought to oppose Hegseth's nominations due to the allegations surrounding his personal life, ranging from sexual misconduct to irresponsible drinking habits. Notably, Hegseth has denied the allegations, with many of his coworkers publicly coming to his defense. 'As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.’In addition, multiple sources close to the Senate confirmed to Blaze News that Ernst was lobbying against Hegseth because she serves as a "useful proxy" for the old guard Senate Republicans like former leader Mitch McConnell. Despite her past hesitancies, Ernst seems to have publicly come around to the nomination after her second meeting with Hegseth."I appreciate Pete Hegseth's responsiveness and respect for the process," Ernst said in a statement following their meeting on Monday, according to Business Insider. "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 assaults within the ranks," Ernst continued.Hegseth can only afford to lose three votes during his Senate confirmation, assuming Vice President-elect JD Vance participates in the vote. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and McConnell are being weighed as potential no-votes in unofficial tallies, making Ernst the tie breaker. "As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources," Ernst said.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

In a recent interview with Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Glenn Beck expressed the excitement he has for the DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy that will hopefully slash rampant government spending. “How serious do you think this DOGE thing is?” Glenn asked Senator Paul. — (@) “The problem is not just Democrats in Washington. It’s big government Republicans,” he said, praising “Elon and Vivek [for] bringing attention to this.” “For 10 years, I’ve been collecting and arguing that we should get rid of waste. We sent [Musk and Ramaswamy] 2,000 pages worth of waste that could be addressed immediately,” he told Glenn. “Some can be done through executive action. I think you can let people go; you can fire people. ... You could also change the contracting,” he added, pointing to how Musk utilizes “competitive bidding” at SpaceX. “On spending reductions, there’s a special procedure where we send a billion dollars to the administration to build a ship, and they build it for $800 million. They can send the $200 million back to us through a special procedure called recission, and it gets an immediate vote, a privilege vote, and it’s a simple majority,” Rand analogized, noting that this failed during the Trump administration because “Republicans voted with the Democrats to keep the spending.”This time around, “we’ve got to see if we can get the majority of Republicans to vote for spending cuts.” “If they all do, then we can cut significant spending,” he said. Later, Ramaswamy reposted the interview with the comment, “Budget rescissions are underutilized to tackle government spending. Strong commentary from @RandPaul.” — (@) Want more from Glenn Beck? To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Fresh off of the one-year anniversary of GTA 6’s reveal trailer, a YouTuber and a group of GTA 5 modders have decided that they’ve waited to see the Florida-inspired state of Leonida long enough. Using a community-created map that uses reference points and footage from past leaks to determine the size of the game’s world, plus visuals from the trailer, they’ve created GTA 6's map within its predecessor’s engine. Continue reading Modders have made GTA 6’s map in GTA 5’s engine, and it looks enormous MORE FROM PCGAMESN: GTA 6 release date, Best open-world games, GTA 5 cheats

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