A New York lawmaker who served as lead attorney for House Democrats during the first impeachment of President-elect Donald Trump said he was "shocked" by Trump's selection of a Fox News host to head the Pentagon.
"I'm shocked, truly," Rep. Dan Goldman told CNN anchor Erin Burnett on Tuesday night, moments after Trump's pick of Pete Hegseth was announced. "It's exactly what we worried about and we warned about Donald Trump."
Goldman specified that they feared Trump would appoint "unqualified loyalists" to shape the government into his "own personal fiefdom" and to seek revenge against generals.
"I appreciate Mr. Hegseth's service in our armed forces but being a serviceman does not make you qualified to lead the Department of Defense and to have access to our nuclear weapons. I'm very disturbed by this and I'm very concerned about what it demonstrates about Donald Trump's priorities, which now seem to be coming true as many of us warned."
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Burnett played a 2019 clip in which Hegseth said, "God has used imperfect people forever because we're all imperfect. But what he has withstood is unlike what any other mortal could understand."
Goldman noted the clip aired even before Jan. 6, 2021 — before Trump's efforts to overturn an election and before he was accused of trying to hide classified information in his bathroom "and refused to give it back while he was having phone conversations with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin."
He called Hegseth a "sycophant" for Trump.
"He's been his biggest cheerleader on Fox News, the biggest cheerleading network," said Goldman. "That is not what makes one qualified to be a Cabinet secretary and secretary of defense."
He called it "very dangerous" for national security that a "Fox News host has got his finger on nuclear weapons."
Watch the clip below or at this link.