MARY BRUCE: And tonight, Hegseth now relying on his mother, too, to make the case for him. Today on Fox News, his mother saying he's a changed man. But when asked about a 2018 email she wrote him accusing her son of being an "abuser of women," she didn't deny the email, but maintained he's different now.
PENELOPE HEGSETH: I would just say that some of those -- some of those attachments or descriptions are just not true, especially anymore.
BRUCE: Tonight, with a growing number of Republican senators signaling they are not behind him, Hegseth, an Army veteran with no military leadership experience, still making the case for himself.
PETE HEGSETH: That's what Donald Trump asked me to do. “Your job is to bring a war-fighting ethos back to the Pentagon. Your job is to make sure that it's lethality, lethality, lethality. Everything else is gone. Everything else that distracts from that shouldn't be happening.” That's the message I'm hearing from senators in that advice and consent process.
BRUCE: He can lose just three Republican senators. Today trying to court key skeptics, including Republican senator Joni Ernst, who could also be up for the job if Trump moves on.