Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary, spent a second day Tuesday on Capitol Hill, meeting privately with Republican senators amid rising questions about his ability to effectively lead the Pentagon. Hegseth told reporters he was planning to sit down with senators, even with those potentially skeptical of his nomination. “We’re going to meet with every senator that wants to meet with us, across the board,” Hegseth as he went from office to office Tuesday. “And we welcome their advice as we go through the advice and counsel process.” Trump tapped the Fox News co-host, a former Army National Guard major and combat veteran who deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan, as his Secretary of Defense, typically among the first Cabinet posts to be considered by the U.S. Senate for confirmation. But Hegseth is running into questions amid an assault allegation, which he has denied, and other emerging reports about his work conduct and history. GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said some of the reports are “disturbing.” “I want to make sure that every young woman that joins the military feels respected and welcomed,” Graham told CBS News. The South Carolina lawmaker told the AP later that he doesn’t know whether to believe the allegations, and Hegseth “has a chance to say that’s true or not true.” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he’s seen the reports. “I’ll get the chance to talk to him, and I’m sure he’ll address them,” he said. “But my view is, have the hearing.” Before he was tapped to serve as a weekend host of “Fox & Friends,” Hegseth served at two veterans advocacy groups, Concerned Veterans for America and Veterans For Freedom. In new allegations this week, the New Yorker cited what it described as a whistleblower report and other documents about his time leading CVA that alleged multiple incidents of alcohol intoxication at work events, inappropriate behavior around female staffers and financial mismanagement. NBC News reported that several unnamed current and former Fox employees who worked with Hegseth that his drinking habits raised concerns, including some who said he would show up smelling of alcohol. The Associated Press spoke to four people who had either worked at CVA or were familiar with Hegseth’s time there who insisted on anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media or had signed nondisclosure agreements. While the group’s all-day conferences could run late and often wind up at a nearby bar, three of the four said they had not seen Hegseth intoxicated at events. One person who had been connected to CVA told the AP, however, that some employees had raised concerns about Hegseth’s alcohol use but said that his departure from the group was more connected to growing ideological differences between him and the network of conservative nonprofits funded by billionaire donors Charles Koch and his late brother, David Koch. Trump is drawing from the ranks of loyalists to fill his administration and to Cabinet positions, often stunning Washington with unusual choices that are provocative and testing the senators who will be asked to confirm them under the chamber’s advise and consent role. An early pick, Matt Gaetz, the former congressman from Florida, abruptly withdrew from consideration when it became clear that Senate support was crumbling. Gaetz, who had been investigated but […]