'Ticking time bomb': Strategist explains when she saw Pete Hegseth's nomination was 'over'

A pair of opposing political operatives disagreed on CNN over the status of embattled defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth.

The former Fox News host has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill talking with senators concerned about reports of his alleged excessive drinking, sexual misconduct and mistreatment of women, and CNN's John Berman was astonished that Hegseth had assured lawmakers that he would stop drinking if confirmed to lead the Pentagon.

"The promise to quit drinking if he's confirmed was a hell of a statement," Berman said. "I mean, just on its face, it's not the type of thing you usually hear from someone trying to be a major Cabinet secretary."

Republican strategist Matt Gorman agreed but said Donald Trump's nominee still had a couple of days to save his nomination, but he said the president-elect had chosen so many controversial picks for high-level roles that he couldn't see Republicans stopping all of them.

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"Stepping back a little bit with some of these nominees, there is strength in numbers, because who are we talking about?" Gorman said. "Five days ago is all about [FBI director nominee] Kash Patel, so when you have a couple of these nominees whether it's Tulsi [Gabbard], RFK, you divide the scrutiny, you divide the media attention and some of the outside money coming in where last time around it was really only Betsy DeVos that got a lot of that outsized attention. So maybe Senate Republicans will sink maybe one, maybe none, but there's no way now, with all of this, you're sinking, I'd say, a third of the Cabinet, four or five of these nominees – no way."

However, Democratic strategist Christy Setzer disagreed and said the public floating of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' name as a potential backup choice proved Hegseth was in trouble.

"That was the moment that I thought, 'Oh, this is over,'" Setzer said. "Once the Trump team is officially floating alternatives that means that they know it's done, and the fact that, frankly, much like the situation with Matt Gaetz versus Pam Bondi, the person that they are promoting or floating as an alternative is someone who does have more experience and does answer some of the questions that one would have about Pete Hegseth, so I think they know, and this is just a, you know, a ticking time bomb, and it's going to go off at any any day now."

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