Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, has faced scrutiny for his association with Wilson—and Wilson’s anti–women’s suffrage views—since he was nominated to lead the Department of Defense. (Wilson also once wrote that “slavery produced in the South a genuine affection between the races.”)

That would require him to step down as Pentagon chief, teeing up a major leadership change, albeit one that may be welcomed by some in the Department of Defense, where Hegseth’s purported paranoia and erratic moves have rankled White House officials and alienated staffers. It has all been enough that his allies apparently staged an intervention.