CNN's Jake Tapper cornered Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) on Wednesday, as Schmitt tried to defend Donald Trump's right to nominate Fox News personality Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon, despite allegations of sexual misconduct and drinking problem — which has led several Republican senators to waffle on whether they'll vote to confirm him, and Hegseth resorting to drastic measures to try to whip votes.
"Do you have any concerns about these issues?" Tapper asked.
"I think he's trying to address these issues head-on as they've been swirling around," said Schmitt. "He's been nominated. President Trump ran on a reform agenda and Pete Hegseth, I do think he brings a reform-minded agenda to the Pentagon. We're in desperate need of that."
He said there will be continued vetting of Hegseth and "it's all part of the process."
But Tapper wasn't convinced.
"If a track record of numerous infidelities and alleged sexual misconduct and alleged problems with alcohol that he's either denied or said doesn't represent him anymore — this is who he is," he said. "Would you hire somebody that had these descriptions about who he was to run your office, given what we know is a fact and the allegations? I mean, do you not really have any concerns?"
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"Well, you kind of mix two words there together there Jake, which is the fact of the allegations," said Schmitt. "Let's look at these in two different buckets. The first is the 2017 incident that you referenced. The prosecutor, the female prosecutor decided not to move forward with charges. I'd be interested to see as a former prosecutor myself, attorney general of Missouri, what other surrounding documents and memoranda might exist that related to that decision not to charge. And then secondly, now you have again, a bunch of anonymous folks coming forward — not even coming forward, who are in the shadows claiming something. And I just don't think that's a reason why you would, you know, dismiss somebody from a very important role like this."
"I said the facts and the allegations, because the facts of the infidelities of how he has run his personal life are just facts," said Tapper. "And frankly, as a married man and a father, absolutely disgraceful. But beyond that, there are these allegations he paid hush money to his accuser in California. I've never paid hush money to anybody."
"Well, he settled a lawsuit that, again, the underlying charges were deemed by a prosecutor as baseless, and those are the facts," said Schmitt. "But again, I think this is a — again, people are entitled to ask these questions. He's entitled to give an answer and he's answering those questions."
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