CNN’s Scott Jennings on the Pete Hegseth nomination fight: “Well, he could continue and, you know what? I do think there have been a lot of anonymously sourced things. I think he’s right about that and so, if I were in his shoes, I would want a chance to go to the table and answer questions and clear my own name, and fight for my own reputation. I’m sure he is doing that behind the scenes…Some of the more salacious character-based attacks have been anonymously sourced and there have been a lot of people on the record who have worked with him, either in the military or at Fox News, who have come forward in their name, on the record to say, I’ve never witnessed any of this kind of behavior and so on. So, but that’s the purpose of a hearing, right? You go to the table, you answer questions under oath, people come and defend you, or people come and make allegations against you, but we’re a long way between now and the hearings. My sense is he’s still below the line. I mean, he’s probably not there right now…He can’t lose many and no offense to the rest of the cabinet, but the Defense Department is different than virtually everything else, and the bar to be Secretary of Defense is going to be very high and there’s a — there’s a cohort of Republican Senators, this is their main issue: national security, foreign offense — foreign affairs.”
Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst — who happily voted for LLoyd Austin to run DoD —
— explains that right now, she is not a “yes” vote for Pete Hegseth.
CNN’s Brad Todd on why senators should support Pete Hegseth: “There’s a good reason for him to head the Department of Defense. Number one, we rely about — one third of our fighting men and women are in the guard and reserves. Pete Hegseth is a guard and reservist who’s been in combat. He’s pulled the trigger. He’s seen bullets go by people…but he’s led people in combat. Those are the people that have been bearing the burden, and their families have been bearing the burden of our foreign policy the last few years, many of which all of us as Republicans supported, but I think that the guards and guardsmen and women and reservists are going to be happy to see somebody who’s way outside the Pentagon brass, somebody who’s actually been on the line, worn the fatigues and done that job.”
CNN’s Brad Todd on what Pete Hegseth would bring to the Pentagon that current and past leaders don’t have: “I think it’s important to get somebody outside the current Pentagon establishment. For 12 of the last 16 years, everybody who’s been promoted from colonel to general has been done so by currying the favor of a Democratic White House. There’s a sense among Republicans that the military that the military brass, though, is pretty far left. And that — that you do need somebody who comes from way outside that current system, that current hierarchy, to shake it up.”
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Jennings on Pete Hegseth: salacious character-based attacks anonymously sourced; Joni Ernst Vote