CNN’s Kasie Hunt Gives Trump Spox Brutal Grilling On Hegseth — Cuts In To Torpedo Talking Points

CNN anchor Kasie Hunt grilled Trump senior adviser Jason Miller on President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled nominee for defense secretary Pete Hegseth, repeatedly interrupting him to smack down talking points.

Hegseth is already facing a rape allegation and the revelation of a bombshell 2018 email from Penelope Hegseth to her son in which she called him “an abuser of women” — and now, a devastating whistleblower report.

On Tuesday’s edition of CNN This Morning, Hunt repeatedly cut in to push back when he tried to minimize the allegations against Hegseth:

KASIE HUNT: Let me ask you about another one of the nominees on the table, and that’s Pete Hegseth.

We learned more information about some instances in his past in The New Yorker over the past couple of days. And there also was a letter in The New York Times from his mother who had wrote, who had written in the course of his divorce, questioning his character.

And this is this is his mother who writes this. “I have no respect for any man that belittles lies, cheats, sleeps around, uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man and have been for years. And as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that. But that is the sad, sad truth.”.

Was the Trump transition aware of this information about Pete Hegseth’s past and are there any concerns inside the transition about it?

JASON MILLER: Well, so when it comes to access, there aren’t any concerns and we feel very good about his positioning for being confirmed by the Senate. Now we have to take the process very seriously.

This is one of the rare times where you’re going to hear me say that the process when it comes to this is very important. And that’s because the Senate takes it so serious to go and have the one on one meetings, to have these confirmation hearings, to give senators the chance to kick the tires and get some of these questions answered on their own.

Now, with regard to Pete, family conversations sometimes are very tough. And in the case with his mother, his mother did go and take that back and say that she was sorry for that.

And I believe that Pete Hegseth is ultimately, when he has a chance to present his case, it’s going to come across very clearly that he’s going to be a great person to lead the DOD and that he didn’t do anything wrong.

Now, again, the letter of The New Yorker or whatever they called it, The New Yorker with their piece that they ran, that was basically just innuendo and gossip. There wasn’t–.

KASIE HUNT: It was a report from the top of the Concerned Veterans of America, the organization that he led, that he was later shown the–.

JASON MILLER: But–.

KASIE HUNT: –door of because of allegations of financial mismanagement, in addition to some of the more personal allegations.

JASON MILLER: But but we need to be clear here. Again, what I say was innuendo and gossip. It was written by a disgruntled former employee.

And so, again, this was not some some legal finding or something in the court of law. This is a former employee who was very much did not like Pete–

KASIE HUNT: No, it was extensive. There was an extensive actual report that it was used to remove him from his post. It was not a single allegation or anonymous employee who was upset.

JASON MILLER: Again, I would I would take issue with the characterization of that. I would say that this, again, was a disgruntled former employee and full of innuendo and gossip. And Pete Hegseth, again, let’s talk about Pete Hegseth’s bio for a moment. Someone a two time Bronze Star recipient who served in combat and who’s been in Iraq and Afghanistan.

KASIE HUNT: No one’s disputing–

JASON MILLER: Exactly.

KASIE HUNT: –his service record. I’m not saying that. It’s the question is, is he qualified to run the most lethal fighting force with like a trillion plus dollar budget or not? And this report seems to suggest he might not be.

JASON MILLER: No, and I would disagree with that. And again, this is why you’ve seen so many senators come out and say that they’ve been impressed by Pete Hegseth in his meetings. And they do think that he’s the type of person to lead that mission under President Trump.

And I want you to know one other thing. Pete Hegseth is someone who has been shot at in combat. That’s exactly the type of person that we want leading the DOD before any commitment is made to put our troops in harm’s way.

KASIE HUNT: All right, Jason.

Watch above via CNN This Morning.