SCOOP: Top GOP Sen. Cotton to meet with embattled Trump defense nominee as doubts swirl

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republican conference Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is set to meet with an embattled Trump nominee for a key position in the Department of Defense (DOD) after Cotton faced backlash from some MAGA-aligned figures over the weekend.

Cotton will meet with President Donald Trump’s nominee for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Elbridge “Bridge” Colby, in the coming days, a source familiar shared with Fox News Digital. 

According to the source, senators on the Senate Committee on Armed Services (SASC) had come to Cotton with concerns regarding some of Colby’s stances, particularly past comments on Iran potentially obtaining a nuclear weapon. 

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Tom Cotton will meet with a key nominee after finding himself at apparent odds with some figures in the MAGA-sphere. (Getty Images/ Reuters)

Turning Point USA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement, “I’m very happy to hear that Sen. Cotton is willing to meet with Bridge,” touting the nominee’s accomplishments and “thoughtful” approach.

Whether his own public pressure on the senator via X played a part in the meeting, he said, “Both public and private pressure are important. Ideally, these debates don’t play out in public, but sometimes it’s necessary.”

“What has become very clear to me in recent days is that the base is paying close attention to this confirmation, and there will be political consequences for any senator who stands in the way of the personnel President Trump wants,” Kirk continued, adding that he hopes Cotton will ultimately back Colby. 

Sen. Tom Cotton is slamming Kamala Harris over her refusal to be clear about her changing policy positions from 2020. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The source told Fox News Digital that issues with Colby’s positions on the war between Russia and Ukraine had surfaced from some members. But what was ultimately fostering hesitance was his previously stated stance on Iran’s nuclear capabilities and whether the U.S. should contain a nuclear Iran.

As for Cotton, a source familiar explained that the GOP Conference and Intel Committee chairman is “comfortable” with nominees who say they support Trump’s position in preventing Iran from accessing nuclear weapons. 

The anticipated meeting between the top Republican and Colby comes after Cotton was the target of “MAGA” ire over the weekend for his hesitance to get behind the nominee. 

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Figures such as billionaire White House advisor Elon Musk and Kirk, a fierce MAGA ally, took to X to discuss Colby’s nomination and Cotton’s purported hesitance. 

Elbridge Colby speaks at the National Conservative Conference in Washington D.C., Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

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“The effort to undermine President Trump continues in the US Senate,” Kirk wrote. 

He further claimed Cotton “is working behind the scenes to stop Trump’s pick, Elbridge Colby, from getting confirmed at DOD.”

“Colby is one of the most important pieces to stop the Bush/Cheney cabal at DOD. Why is Tom Cotton doing this? Comment below your theories,” he added. 

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X owner Musk replied, “Why the opposition to Bridge? What does he think Bridge will do?”

“Senator Cotton is focused on ensuring all defense nominees commit to supporting President Trump’s position that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon, and Cotton will be addressing this in meetings and hearings with the nominees,” a source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital earlier this week as they awaited Colby’s paperwork to proceed with the nomination process.

The White House did not provide comment when asked by Fox News Digital whether Colby’s stance on a nuclear Iran had changed. 

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Colby had written in an op-ed in 2010 that “[c]ontaining a nuclear Iran is an eminently plausible and practical objective.”

He did, however, cede that “preventing an Iranian nuclear capability should be the objective of Washington and the international community.”