‘Watch this!’ CNN’s Jake Tapper hailed for hitting back at Republican’s attacks
President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Fox News personality Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense is on life support amid allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse, backed up by police reports and the testimony of colleagues. But Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told CNN's Jake Tapper he's still all in on the nomination, demanding Hegseth's accusers come forward and talk to the media if they're so truthful.
But then, as soon as it was pointed out to him that one of the most significant accusers was given a hush payment, he flatly refused to support overturning that agreement.
"This morning you posted on Twitter or X, 'I support President Trump's pick and I look forward to his swift confirmation,'" said Tapper. "So you don't even want to wait for that FBI background check? You don't want to hear from members of the veterans group alleging alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct? I mean, I know Hegseth denies any wrongdoing, but don't you want to get some more vetting done?"
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"Well, first off, number one, Donald Trump won the election," said Scott. "Number two, this is his nominee, right? We know we have to make changes. Number three, Pete is a great candidate ... I respect people that put on the uniform and led troops at war. He went to Iraq. He went to Afghanistan. He knows people that died. He knows people that were injured. He got out. He's fought for veterans since he got out. These are anonymous accusations. If these people — if these people are credible, Jake, ask them to come on your show. Ask them to explain these things."
"The woman who accuses Pete of raping her in 2017 — although the police said, we should note, did not charge him with any crime — that woman, Hegseth paid her money and she signed a nondisclosure agreement, so she can't come on my show to talk about it," said Tapper. "Do you think Pete should release her from the NDA so that I can ask her the questions that you want me to?"
"Absolutely not," said Scott. Faced with Tapper's incredulous protestations, he added, "Jake, we know how many people sign nondisclosure just to eliminate something. Not that they ever did anything wrong. And he was never, he was never — you know, never charged with anything."
Scott's performance earned him scorn from commenters on social media.
"Do yourself a favor and watch this clip. Rarely will you see a politician get as humiliated and exposed for hypocrisy as @SenRickScott is here by @jaketapper," posted podcaster Tommy Vietor.
"Of course not. Transparency & accountability are for suckers & losers & Democrats!" wrote investigative journalist Jonathan Greenberg.
Watch the video below or at the link here.
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