Scott Jennings gets a history lesson from ex-Pentagon official after defense of Hegseth
CNN's Scott Jennings was on the receiving end of a history lesson on Sunday morning after he praised the leadership of embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the wake of what is being called the "Signalgate" scandal that has Donald Trump's administration playing defense this week.
During an appearance on the panel segment of "State of the Union" Dana Bash, the controversial CNN conservative claimed Democrats are making too much of a fuss over Hegseth sharing battle details, before the attack began, in a Signal chatroom that also included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeff Goldberg and set off a firestorm.
Former chief Pentagon spokesperson Chris Meagher told the panel, "The business of the Department of Defense is very dangerous. every single day. They're dealing with life and death issue. and it's risky and it's dangerous. and so you need our leadership, our most senior leadership at the Pentagon, our most senior leadership in the United States government to take steps to mitigate that risk, to take steps to keep our troops safe."
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"Pete Hegseth, he did the opposite," he accused. "He put classified sensitive material about an operation hours before that operation took place into an unclassified setting, which is one of the biggest no-no's at the Department of Defense. If somebody like me did that, I'd be out on the sidewalk."
Jennings shot back, "I think it's possible for two things to be true. One, it's possible to say this was a mistake and it's a teachable moment and I have no doubt they won't do it again. And it's also possible to look at if you're trying to assess what should we do about it? I hear Democrats arguing, 'Well, we should fire Pete Hegseth, we should fire the national security advisor.' The bar for firing people like this is really high from the last administration when, after the Afghanistan withdrawal, which was a disaster, people died. No accountability was meted out after the drone strike that vaporized those poor kids and that family. No accountability. after the secretary of defense went awol."
After he added, "I don't have a lot of time for that argument today, and neither does most Republicans," Meagher fired back.
'The problem here is that Pete Hegseth has taken no accountability," he explained. "He's bashed the reporter. He's called it a hoax. He's done everything but say, 'Hey, I made a mistake by putting this information in the Signal chat.'"
"You mentioned Secretary Austin he stood at the podium for an hour and took accountability, he asked for a 30-day review of the hospitalization," he then pointed out.
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