The co-hosts of "The View" continued their onslaught against Fox host Pete Hegseth, whom Donald Trump has named to lead the Department of Defense. One former Trump aide explained any defense person must be "above reproach" to be successfully confirmed.
The panel began discussing Hegseth's mother, who blasted him in a leaked email. She spoke to Fox about it Wednesday, promising that he wasn't that kind of person she had once criticized for being an abusive personality "anymore."
"Did she just say they're not true anymore?" asked Whoopi Goldberg. "So, that means at some point it was true."
Also Read: 'It's offensive': Multiple senators object to Trump's plan to usher in Pete Hegseth
Hegseth has faced criticism from his Fox colleagues, who said that he had a drinking problem that made it difficult to navigate his hosting of a morning show. They described it to Vanity Fair as "babysitting."
Former Trump communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin pointed out that she was subjected to extensive background checks when she worked as a spokesperson at the Department of Defense.
"While we all expect that bad behavior has made its way into politics — you've had people who have had affairs as presidents and all that — the DOD and secretary of defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff have largely stayed above reproach because of character," said Griffin.
She noted that national security staff and those in the military are "aware that America's enemies are constantly looking at them and looking at things to exploit."
When doing background checks, Griffin said they asked her about her financial debt and whether she gambled or was addicted to pornography.
"They matter because they think could you be blackmailed when you have all this power to make life and death decisions," Griffin explained. "It doesn't matter that much if you had an affair and run the Department of Commerce. Having a questionable record with women and abuse allegations at DOD absolutely matters."
She went on to suggest some better options for the post that she thinks Trump should nominate.
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