Hegseth once jabbed Trump for saying he gets military advice from TV: report
Fox News weekend co-host Pete Hegseth, nominated to head the Pentagon by President-elect Donald Trump, criticized the president in 2015 after Trump said he gets military advice by watching TV, according to a Monday report in The Bulwark.
Hegseth jabbed the president in a 2015 interview with Fox News that Trump looked to TV for military advice, according to the report.
“I watch the shows,” Trump said at the time to "Meet the Press."
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Hegseth was asked to respond to that interview — and wasn't thrilled with the then-candidate Trump's response.
There are a lot of folks—and he even mentioned Ambassador Bolton. I mean, Jack Keane, Ralph Peters. I mean, when I watch him, I learn a ton. So it's not to say that you don’t learn, but you wouldn’t want a top-tier presidential candidate getting all of their military advice from watching "Meet the Press." There’s a lot more nuance. There’s a lot more detail. And what people love about Donald Trump is he’s straightforward, he’s blunt. He tells it like it is. . . . But I think if I’m in, if I’ve got a glimpse inside their campaign, they’re probably assembling some generals right now to bring into a room to brief Donald Trump about some of these particular nuances, because at the end of the day, foreign policy and national security is not about TV shows. It’s a complex web of relationships, and I think they’re going to want him briefed on that kind of stuff.
Hegseth reportedly also compared Trump's foreign policy to then-President Barrack Obama's.
Hegseth has already faced intense scrutiny over a sexual assault allegation in 2017, which he maintains was a consensual encounter.