CNN anchor Kasie Hunt let out a stunned laugh as she ran down controversies plaguing President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled nominee for defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and asked Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) if his mom would ever say what Hegseth’s mom did.
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 Wednesday’s edition of CNN This Morning, Hunt pushed back when Burchett defended Hegseth on the basis that ” the Justice Department or whoever has decided not to prosecute” him.
The anchor listed off the various bombs that have dropped — including an astonished hypothetical on the email:
KASIE HUNT: Let me ask you about Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary nominee. He’s going to be on Capitol Hill today. He’s actually going to be meeting with some House Republicans in addition to this critical meeting that he has with Joni Ernst, in particular, senator from Iowa.Do you think that Pete Hegseth should continue as Donald Trump’s defense nominee? Do you think he can be confirmed?REP. TIM BURCHETT: Well, that’s up to Pete. I think every time somebody runs, they bring up things that are unfortunate in their life.And everything that they’ve brought up, though, has been — uh — every–. Every every claim
that they’ve made against him has been the Justice Department or whoever has decided not to prosecute for whatever reason. So to me, that leaves, you know–.KASIE HUNT: Well, I think that a lot of the allegations– I mean, there was a police report around a sexual assault incident out in California that was not pursued.Recently over the weekend in The New Yorker, there were allegations from an organization that he led that he of financial mismanagement, of sexual impropriety, sexist behavior.And then there’s this letter from his mother who basically said in the course of his divorce that he had a problem mistreating women. What– would your mom have ever said–? I mean, what what– how would you feel (LAUGHS) if you were in this situation with your own mother? (LAUGHS)REP. TIM BURCHETT: My momma would never have written–. My mom would have said, honey I’ve raised you better than that. And she would probably smack my jowls,.KASIE HUNT: (LAUGHS).REP. TIM BURCHETT: But I would not have I would not have been in that situation. You know, I don’t know. That that’s a family situation. You always wonder how those emails came to light.And, you know, the court of laws is all we really have to go on is what we’ve seen in the past with these investigations arejust investigations. And until somebody comesforward with the proof, you know, I think it’s going to be up to up to the United States senators.KASIE HUNT: All right. Congressman Tim Burchett, very grateful to have you on the show.
Watch above via CNN This Morning.