‘He’s Dead. He Doesn’t Know It Yet’: Hegseth Nomination Still In Serious Trouble
Fox News personality faces allegations of sexual abuse, excessive drinking
Although Donald Trump continues publicly to back Fox News personality Pete Hegseth as his choice to become the nation’s next secretary of defense, Hegseth’s Senate confirmation remains in real trouble.
That’s according to Democrats on Capitol Hill and others.
Hegseth has faced growing controversy since Trump nominated him last month. He continues to face allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking, which he has denied.
Hegseth will need to be confirmed by the full Senate, where another of Trump’s nominations — former congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general — has already withdrawn.
“My job as a senator as described in the Constitution is to make a determination about whether these nominees are fit to do these jobs. Whether they are going to uphold the law, whether they are going to follow the Constitution and whether they have the capability of serving in these roles and the Department of Defense job is hugely important so I have massive concerns about Pete Hegseth certainly the endless stream of stories about him being publicly drunk, unable to stand up and the allegations of him assaulting women are deeply concerning but at the end of the day, this will be up to my Republican colleagues,” said Sen Tina Smith (D-Minn). “Do they stand up for the men and women who serve our country? Or do they follow the whims of this president-elect?
“There are a lot of women who have served our country in Minnesota who served in combat and I’m thinking about them and how they would feel to have the next secretary of defense who feels people don’t deserve to have the opportunity to serve,” she added.
Matt Dowd, a former high-level Republican strategist, said he thinks that the Hegseth nomination is essentially dead.
“Pete Hegseth, you know, he’s Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense, I think. He’s dead. He doesn’t know it yet. And the senators just hope he passes away without them having to pronounce it,” he said.
That’s also the opinion of Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman who opposes Trump.
“I really do think the Hegseth nomination is still in real trouble,” Walsh said.
Although he won’t help decide Hegseth’s fate, Democratic Rep Marc Veasey, of Texas, weighed in on the nominee’s many troubles.
“Well I don’t know if he has a drinking problem or not. But he has a lot of issues that I think the American people are concerned about and I will start with the obvious one. That this woman said that he spiked her drink and sexually assaulted her,” he said. “And there may not have been charges that were filed but he paid her off so she wouldn’t say anything and that is problematic because he should have fought that if that wasn’t true.
“Not only that, Hegseth is not qualified for this position whatsoever and it’s amazing to talk about a party that talks about wokeness. This is the least qualified person I can ever remember that was even nominated for the position,” Veasey added. “And, in addition to these women problem that he has let’s not forget about the fact the tattoo on his bicep has been identified with a lot of KKK and white supremacy and other groups.
“I want everybody to imagine for one second if the Democratic nominee had a tattoo on them mostly linked to socialist groups. There is absolutely no way that person would be taken seriously,” he said. “And that they would be disqualified immediately by all Republican senators but their casual relationship with anti- Semitism and racism and giving him a pass on these tattoos he has says a lot about where the Republican Party is today under Donald Trump.”
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