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The former wife of imprisoned Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes said on Friday she's deeply concerned that President-elect Donald Trump will grant her one-time husband a pardon.

Appearing on CNN, Tasha Adams told host Jim Acosta that her husband is dangerous and why she fears his potential release.

A former White House aide said that Donald Trump's nominee for defense secretary was vulnerable to blackmail due to his past behavior.

Pete Hegseth's attorney threatened legal action against a woman who accused the former Fox News host and Pentagon nominee of sexual assault, saying she had violated a nondisclosure agreement after accepting a settlement over her allegations, but former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin told CNN the whole scenario made him unqualified to lead the Department of Defense.

According to former Republican speechwriter Elise Jordan, she doesn't see a pathway for embattled Pete Hegseth to win over enough senators to become Donald Trump's secretary of defense.

During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Jordan slyly suggested that Hegseth –– whose future is under a cloud over allegations of public drunkenness and accusations of sexual assault –– could be wasting his time walking the hall of Congress with his wife trying to round up support.

In that vein, she suggested that the former Fox News personality is a "zombie" nominee unwilling to admit that his nomination is dead.

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

Asked if Trump is letting his top Pentagon pick dangle, she told hosts Willie Geist and Jonathan Lemire, "I think he will let him hang on."

"Pete Hegseth is like a zombie nominee; he is wandering around. He is in the game, but is he really alive? No one is quite sure," she explained. "It is very hard to imagine [Senators] Tammy Duckworth and Joni Ernst signing off on someone who has said the things about women in combat that Pete Hegseth said."

"The sexual assault allegations aside, the fact that Pete Hegseth said he will quit drinking when he becomes a D.o.D. secretary? That's outrageous," she exclaimed. "That's what background checks screen for; people who do not have substance abuse problems because they can be easily blackmailed."

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After the failure of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to make it to a Senate confirmation hearing after Donald Trump tapped him to be his next attorney general, GOP resistance to secretary of defense nominee Pete Hegseth has the president-elect's inner circle in a panic.

That is the opinion of Washington Post journalist Jacqueline Alemany who stated on MSNBC that there is a growing fear that Trump is getting pushed around by Republican senators.

With Hegseth struggling to win over reluctant conservative lawmakers due to allegations of a drinking problem and an accusation of sexual assault, the president-elect facing is the prospect of two of his highest-profile Cabinet choices going down in flames.

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

According to Alemany, that is a growing concern within the former president's inner circle.

"This has been the one benefit of having other candidates that are more overtly controversial," she told the hosts. "There's –– it's been a little bit of a deflection tactic from some of the other more, some of the other candidates and nominees who also have controversies, controversies that haven't yet spilled out into public view yet."

"But what you're saying exactly is why Trump aides are telling us behind the scenes that backing Hegseth and continuing to stand by him is so important," she reported. "To show and not allow this narrative to set in that the GOP-led Senate has essentially neutered Trump's power and his mandate to appoint people into his positions, people who are loyalists who are going to carry out his campaign promises and his MAGA mandate."

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MSNBC host Jen Psaki made an appearance on "Morning Joe" on Friday and weighed in on whether Pete Hegseth will make it to his Senate confirmation hearing as the embattled ex-Fox News host is buffeted by reports alleging drinking problems and accusations of sexual assault.

Speaking with "Morning Joe" co-hosts Willie Geist and Jonathan Lemire, Psaki, a former President Joe Biden press secretary, suggested there is a big difference between what is being said in public and what is said behind the scenes.

"I think there's what's happening publicly and then there's what's happening privately and what's happening privately really tells you the whole story with nominations," she explained before recalling, "This didn't always used to be the case; it used to be many years ago that senators would come out and say 'I'm going to vote for this person' or 'I'm not going to vote for this person,' but now because so many Republican senators especially are concerned about being a target of Trump, all of this is basically quiet defiance."

Pete Hegseth is making the rounds on Capitol Hill trying to reassure senators over allegations about excessive drinking, sexual misconduct and other concerning behavior, but CNN's Michael Smerconish said there's an obvious indicator that his nomination is toast.

Aides working with Hegseth have told Donald Trump's team there aren't enough "no" votes to sink his nomination, but Smerconish doesn't think he has the full support of the president-elect, even if his allies are pushing hard to get him confirmed despite worrying reports about his background.

On Friday morning, MSNBC host Willie Geist was stunned and appalled after watching a clip of a Texas Republican get into a screaming match with acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe during a hearing on Thursday.

The hearing on the Donald Trump assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, which the the Washington Post's Jackie Alemany stated was productive until the altercation, descended into chaos as Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) bellowed and pointed his finger at Rowe who returned fire.

Following sharing the clip, a stunned Geist uttered, "Good lord, what's going on here?"

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

"Yeah, Willie, it's actually, I have to say, up until that moment I was in the room I was thinking to myself, 'Wow, this is really such a substantive congressional hearing that we're having,' there were a lot of productive exchanges between Republicans and Democrats until that moment," the Washington Post reporter responded.

"Actually the exchange began with Pat Fallon asking Rowe why, as the second in command to [ex-CIA director] Kimberly Cheatle at the time of the assassination attempt if he was aware of some of the heightened threats against Donald Trump... and more proactive in terms of deploying counter-surveillance units and counter-assault units to try to ultimately prevent the assassination attempt on Donald Trump," she elaborated.

"Basically insinuating that Rowe was in a position as the number two at the agency at the time to try to have the knowledge to prevent something like that," she continued. "And then from there it devolved into Fallon accusing Rowe of trying to position himself for personal gain, that he was essentially auditioning for a job for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris by trying to get in the back of this photo op."

Geist then noted that Republican lawmakers, under Donald Trump, have become notorious for using hearings to get attention for themselves.

'I think some of those members of Congress, as you know Jackie, are used to using those hearings to grandstand, maybe raise some money, get some clips online," he observed. "Not always used to getting it back as good as they gave in that hearing."

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A Democratic lawmaker raised "disturbing" concerns about Donald Trump's choice to oversee the nation's most secret information.

The president-elect has nominated former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, but Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) echoed concerns that have been raised for years about her appetite for Russian propaganda and her controversial 2017 meeting with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

According to a former Republican party insider now serving as an analyst for MSNBC, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) may not be the only roadblock to Fox News personality Pete Hegseth becoming the next secretary of defense after being tapped by Donald Trump.

While the focus has been on Ernst, who seems poised to be the leader of a revolt against Trump's pick potentially because of Hegseth's opposition to women combat, analyst Elise Jordan said the embattled nominee's problems go far beyond her.

Speaking with "Morning Joe" co-host Willie Geist and Jonathan Lemire, Jordan suggested the opposition to Hegseth due to his lack of experience, to say nothing of reports about alleged public drunkenness, is more pervasive than has been reported.

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

With Ernst being described as a "key vote," Jordan quipped, "I think they have to go through the motions, all of these senators, and look publicly like they're behind Pete Hegseth until they are not."

"Joni Ernst may be the one to only have grit to say there are problems here, let's go through the full process and check out all of these allegations," she predicted. "But that said, other senators behind closed doors are not necessarily jumping with joy over the prospect of having Pete Hegseth over an organization that has around 3 million employees, has a massive budget, the largest budget in Washington. "

"So I really think that we're going to have to see: is the loyalty test going to be enough?" she suggested.

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As part of a conversation about the chances of Fox News personality Pete Hegseth surviving long enough to get to a Senate hearing on his nomination to be Donald Trump's secretary of defense, one GOP strategist suggested the president-elect may have made a fatal error.

Speaking with MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire on "Way Too Early," Susan Del Percio claimed Trump's decision to rush out the names of his Cabinet nominations left an enormous amount of time for his critics to dig up dirt on his picks.

With Hegseth being buffeted by multiple allegations of drinking problems as well as accusations of being a sexual predator, Del Percio stated the embattled former Fox employee is an example of moving too fast.

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

"We talked about Trump's appetite for risk," Lemire prompted his guest. "Some of these Cabinet selections are deeply risky, the Hegseth pick very much in doubt. How much do you think, as someone who has known Donald Trump for a long time, how much do you think he's willing to stick with this even to make it to defeat?"

"I don't think he's willing to stick it out so far that if it starts hurting his reputation," she replied before adding, "And this is where I think announcing these picks so far ahead of time has given such a long way for opposition research."

"And then eventually an FBI –– not investigation, but background check –– those things will start to take hold," she continued. "And if it starts to damage Donald Trump, especially when it comes to folks helping him on the economy, I think he's willing to back away."

"Just remember those hearings are going to be brutal for the likes of Hegseth, for the likes of [ex-Rep.] Tulsi Gabbard, for RFK Jr. So I don't think he's willing to put it all on the line just because he cares," she predicted.

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The attorney for one of President-elect Donald Trump's embattled Cabinet nominees surprised a CNN anchor on Thursday night by sharing that a woman who accused Pete Hegseth of sexual assault is "free to speak" to the media — as long as she avoids repeating falsehoods.

A woman reported to police that Hegsethseth, a weekend co-host at Fox News nominated to head the Pentagon, sexually assaulted her in a California hotel room in October 2017. She said he blocked her from leaving, snatched her phone and raped her despite her saying "no." Hegseth later paid the woman money as part of deal that included some sort of agreement that she not talk about the allegation.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) reacted with indignation at the idea that some Democrats want outgoing President Joe Biden to issue pre-emptive pardons for certain lawmakers and former officials likely to face reprisal from a Donald Trump administration.

Jordan's statement, during an interview with Fox Business' Larry Kudlow on Thursday, comes after Biden issued a controversial pardon for his son Hunter, from federal tax and firearm charges — and as Trump moves to put the FBI in the hands of Kash Patel, a MAGA conspiracy theorist who has vowed to "come after" members of the press and Trump's political opponents.