Tuesday morning on the same program, Kilmeade discussed “personal attacks” on Hegseth—without referencing any of the reported details.
“I think the volume of some of the personal attacks on some of your nominees is stunning, including our buddy Pete Hegseth, who wrote a book about the Pentagon and served 20 years in the military,” he said during a discussion with Trump spokesperson Jason Miller.
Meanwhile, the right-wing Newsmax network has taken a different approach by daring to discuss the Hegseth stories.
On Monday, Newsmax host Greg Kelly told his audience that the nomination is probably doomed.
“Pete Hegseth is a talented guy with a lot to offer. But this secretary of defense thing is not going to happen,” Kelly said. “It just can't, not after what we're learning about.”
Noting the damning content of the letter from Hegseth’s mother, Kelly noted, “Country needs some time to absorb this. Pete can make a contribution, a big one, unlimited, quite frankly, but not right now.”
Kelly also said that he thought Hegseth should have warned Trump about his dicey past before he announced the nomination.
Newsmax is a die-hard pro-Trump outlet. The network spread lies about the 2020 election being stolen by President Joe Biden as part of an effort to bolster Trump. Newsmax was sued by voting services company Smartmatic and later settled the lawsuit (as did Fox News, for its own election lies).
But even Newsmax is not going as low as Fox, which is working in service of its ex-employee by avoiding unpleasant information about Hegseth.
Damaging information about nominees has already blown back on Trump before he is even sworn in for another term. Stories about a sex trafficking investigation and allegations about sex with minors led to Matt Gaetz withdrawing his nomination for attorney general before the Senate even considered it.
Despite the information revealed so far about Hegseth, Senate Republicans appear to be ready to approve his nomination. In an appearance on Fox Business, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville said “a lot of this stuff was years ago” and made vague assertions that Hegseth’s confirmation hearings should not be about “his past references.”
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