MSNBC host Jen Psaki took the opportunity this week to offer several compliments about President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial pick for secretary of defense, noting that Pete Hegseth should be credited with his military service and television hosting talent.
At the same time, the former White Press secretary launched into a withering critique of the ex-Fox News star’s ability to lead the Pentagon, specifically highlighting the graphic allegations of sexual assault that have come to light since Hegseth was first nominated by Trump.
Psaki also pointed out that “much of the spotlight” on Capitol Hill has shifted to Hegseth’s confirmation after Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination for attorney general. With allegations of sex trafficking a minor swirling around him, not to mention the hard feelings many Republicans still held over his knee-capping of Kevin McCarthy’s speakership, Gaetz was facing an uphill battle in the Senate and Trump himself reportedly told the former congressman it was a lost cause.
Some Republican senators, meanwhile, are hoping that Hegseth will follow Gaetz’s lead and also drop out rather than go through a messy confirmation, though others have parroted Hegseth’s claim that his accuser “was the aggressor.” A recently released police report alleges that the former Fox & Friends host prevented a woman from leaving his hotel room before sexually assaulting her in 2017. Insisting that the sexual encounter was consensual, Hegseth has maintained his innocence, though he did later pay a confidential settlement to the unidentified woman last year to prevent a potential lawsuit.
“Now, just for a moment, to his credit, Hegseth is a veteran who has served in the Army National Guard overseas in both Afghanistan and Iraq,” Psaki said on Sunday’s broadcast on Inside with Jen Psaki. “I will also say that Hegseth is pretty good on TV. Which, as a general skill set, I can tell you, is not a bad thing to have in your cabinet.”
She continued: “For about a decade, he has worked at Fox News as a contributor and host, and we know Trump loves Fox News hosts. And Hegseth has also written a number of books.”
That was it, however, for the niceties.
“But here’s the thing,” Psaki stated. “On TV and in those books, Pete Hegseth has also pushed some out-there ideas, even echoing the notion often repeated by Donald Trump that America is filled with enemies from within.”
Asserting “that alone” should be enough to potentially endanger Hegseth’s confirmation, Psaki then told viewers that she was going to “walk you through what we know about” the ex-Fox News star. From there, she detailed Hegseth’s alleged sexual assault of a woman at a California hotel.
Playing a clip of Hegseth saying he was “completely cleared” by police in the investigation of the incident, Psaki noted that isn’t exactly what law enforcement said.
“Now, to be clear, Pete Hegseth was not cleared, and the 22-page police report released this week shows that it’s not as simple as he’d have you believe,” she said.
After further going through the report, she pointed out that several GOP lawmakers have come to Hegseth’s defense, invoking his denials while dismissing the allegations as merely “hearsay” or a “he-said/she-said” situation.
“Is ‘he denies it’ really the standard we’re setting for the person who’s supposed to do that? Is ‘he denies it’ really good enough in the face of that damning set of circumstances I just read to you? I sure hope not. It shouldn’t be,” Psaki concluded her monologue.
