Even Fox News Has Turned on Trump’s Garbage Defense Pick
Even Fox News isn’t accepting MAGA Republicans’ attempts to discredit accusations against Pete Hegseth without objection.In an interview Monday, Republican Senator Roger Marshall defended Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense when Fox host John Roberts asked him, quite vaguely, “about the concerns of things that happened in the past.”Hegseth is currently facing a raft of scandals: He was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017. (Hegseth was not charged but paid the woman a financial settlement.) His drinking habits as a co-host of Fox & Friends reportedly concerned his Fox News colleagues. The New Yorker recently covered a whistleblower report detailing Hegseth’s excessive drinking and financial mismanagement while running a veterans nonprofit.“Yeah, look. I think that Pete is a good man,” Marshall said. “He is a man of integrity now. He absolutely has my support. I think that these anonymous character assassinations by the media are way over-reported—”“But some of them weren’t anonymous,” Roberts cut in.“Well, the ones that I’ve seen are anonymous,” said Marshall, before diverting the topic away from Hegseth’s scandals.Roberts: What about concerns about the things that have happened in the past?Marshall: Look, I think that Pete is a good man. He is a man of integrity now.. I think these anonymous.. Roberts: But some of them weren’t anonymous pic.twitter.com/Pkmz2hVxid— Acyn (@Acyn) December 9, 2024Marshall’s emphasis on the anonymity of the accusations echoes similar defenses of Hegseth from Senators Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott, who last week attempted to minimize the allegations plaguing Hegseth by pointing to their anonymous sources.Pushing back against this, MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin wrote a blog post last week, noting that anonymous sources are integral to the functioning of the free press. The identity of anonymous sources are, after all, “known to the journalists reporting them,” and the accusations are independently verified or corroborated. “And, of course,” Rubin wrote, “at least one of the anonymous people featured in reporting about Hegseth isn’t anonymous to Hegseth: The Jane Doe who has accused him of rape and with whom he signed an agreement.”Not all of the revelations against Hegseth are anonymously sourced, either. As The New York Times reported last month, Hegseth’s mother in 2018 called her son “an abuser of women,” whose “abuse over the years to women (dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, belittling) needs to be called out,” in a private email to him that she now disavows.Hegseth was back on Capitol Hill Monday, continuing his effort to salvage his nomination in meetings with the senators who hold his fate in their hands.
Even Fox News isn’t accepting MAGA Republicans’ attempts to discredit accusations against Pete Hegseth without objection.
In an interview Monday, Republican Senator Roger Marshall defended Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense when Fox host John Roberts asked him, quite vaguely, “about the concerns of things that happened in the past.”
Hegseth is currently facing a raft of scandals: He was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017. (Hegseth was not charged but paid the woman a financial settlement.) His drinking habits as a co-host of Fox & Friends reportedly concerned his Fox News colleagues. The New Yorker recently covered a whistleblower report detailing Hegseth’s excessive drinking and financial mismanagement while running a veterans nonprofit.
“Yeah, look. I think that Pete is a good man,” Marshall said. “He is a man of integrity now. He absolutely has my support. I think that these anonymous character assassinations by the media are way over-reported—”
“But some of them weren’t anonymous,” Roberts cut in.
“Well, the ones that I’ve seen are anonymous,” said Marshall, before diverting the topic away from Hegseth’s scandals.
Roberts: What about concerns about the things that have happened in the past?
Marshall: Look, I think that Pete is a good man. He is a man of integrity now.. I think these anonymous..
Roberts: But some of them weren’t anonymous pic.twitter.com/Pkmz2hVxid— Acyn (@Acyn) December 9, 2024
Marshall’s emphasis on the anonymity of the accusations echoes similar defenses of Hegseth from Senators Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott, who last week attempted to minimize the allegations plaguing Hegseth by pointing to their anonymous sources.
Pushing back against this, MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin wrote a blog post last week, noting that anonymous sources are integral to the functioning of the free press. The identity of anonymous sources are, after all, “known to the journalists reporting them,” and the accusations are independently verified or corroborated.
“And, of course,” Rubin wrote, “at least one of the anonymous people featured in reporting about Hegseth isn’t anonymous to Hegseth: The Jane Doe who has accused him of rape and with whom he signed an agreement.”
Not all of the revelations against Hegseth are anonymously sourced, either. As The New York Times reported last month, Hegseth’s mother in 2018 called her son “an abuser of women,” whose “abuse over the years to women (dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, belittling) needs to be called out,” in a private email to him that she now disavows.
Hegseth was back on Capitol Hill Monday, continuing his effort to salvage his nomination in meetings with the senators who hold his fate in their hands.
