Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth called Donald Trump “an armchair tough guy” who’s “all bluster, very little substance” in a 2016 clip shared by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski on Tuesday.
While the former Fox & Friends host wouldn’t be the only potential Trump Cabinet member to have trashed the president-elect in the past, the video re-emerged at a sensitive time. Trump is reportedly already considering replacing Hegseth with another nominee as misconduct claims mount against him. He’s been accused of sexual assault and reached a settlement with his accuser while denying the allegation. The National Guard veteran was also forced to resign from two veterans groups for financial and sexual impropriety, and repeatedly showed up for work at Fox News smelling like alcohol, according to reports.
The clips dug up by Kaczynski won’t help matters.
“It’s typical Trump, all bluster, very little substance,” Hegseth said on Fox News in March 2016. “He talks a tough game. But then when pressed on it, he’s an armchair tough guy. I hate to say it, but this is a guy who said that John McCain is not a war hero. Yet he sought his own five military deferments.”
In 2015 footage also shown on CNN Tuesday, Hegseth said: “You wouldn’t want a top-tier presidential candidate getting all of their military advice from watching Meet the Press. There’s a lot more nuance. There’s a lot more detail. ... Foreign policy and national security is not about TV shows.”
CNN said a spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition team provided a statement defending Hegseth’s past comments as a Fox News host.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump opponent in the primaries who has spoken ill of the president-elect, is reported to be a top candidate to possibly replace Hegseth.
h/t Mediaite