'Why?' Morning Joe wonders who hobbled FBI background check of Trump nominee

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough cast doubt on the FBI background check of Donald Trump's nominee for defense secretary Tuesday.

Allegations of sexual assault and other misconduct have surfaced against former Fox News host Pete Hegseth since the president-elect tapped him to lead the Pentagon, but the "Morning Joe" host said he was so lacking in qualifications for the job that no Republican senators should vote to confirm him.

"All the character issues aside, I can tell you there's not a single person in Washington, D.C., that I've talked to that thinks that he's qualified to run the Pentagon," Scarborough said the morning before Hegseth was due to face Senators on the Hill in his confirmation hearing.

"Again, all character questions aside, that's something that Joni Ernst knows, she knows he's not qualified to run the Pentagon. That's something that John Thune knows, he knows Pete Hegseth is not qualified to run the Pentagon. That's something Mitch McConnell knows, that's something that Lisa Murkowski knows, that's something that Susan Collins knows. It's something, of course, that Todd Young, one of the more serious thinkers, most serious thinkers on national defense issues, knows. So, again, all of these character questions aside, these these so-called John Tower questions."

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"All of those aside, everybody knows the underlying truth that nobody will be served," he added. "I mean, the [Department of Defense] will not be served by this, Americans will not be served by it. The armed forces won't be served by it. Even the commander in chief, Donald Trump, ultimately will not be served by having somebody running the DOD that's ill-equipped just because of experience, or lack thereof, of running the DOD."

However, the federal investigators tasked with looking into Hegseth's background reportedly did not interview his ex-wives, which is standard protocol, or the woman who accused him of assaulting her in 2017 — and Scarborough wondered why those allegations of abusive behavior were not investigated.

"The question this morning regarding the start of this hearing has to go back to why didn't the FBI ask the most basic questions from the most germane witnesses?" Scarborough said. "Were they instructed not to by somebody, or do you think they were doing it because they didn't want to offend the incoming administration?"

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