By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2025-01-15 00:26:41 | Updated at 2025-01-15 06:14:12
5 hours ago
CNN’s conservative commentator Scott Jennings gloated over defense secretary designee Pete Hegseth’s performance under a barrage of Democratic slings and arrows during his confirmation hearing Tuesday.
“In short, I think Pete Hegseth kicked their asses today. I mean, it wasn’t even close. They didn’t lay a glove on Hegseth. No mistakes. Calm, cool, collected,” Jennings told his CNN colleagues when asked by anchor Dana Bash.
Hegseth, 44, an Army National Guard veteran, had sat for about four and a half hours before the Senate Armed Services Committee, fielding questions about his drinking habits, accusations of sexual misconduct and more.
The former Fox News host has generally been seen as one of President-elect Donald Trump’s toughest forthcoming nominees to get confirmed, but Jennings argued that Hegseth was well prepared for Dems attacks.
“I was appalled at some of the way these senators handled themselves and some of the lines of questioning. I mean, Tim Kaine sounded like a sex pervert in his questioning of Pete Hegseth,” Jennings jabbed.
Kaine (D-Va.), who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016, referenced the rape accusations against Hegseth, which the Princeton and Harvard alum adamantly denied. Kaine latched onto how Hegseth faced up to cheating on his wife at the time.
“You cheated on the mother of that child less than two months after that daughter was born, didn’t you?” Kaine asked. “…I assume that in each of your weddings, you pledged to be faithful to your wife. You’ve taken an oath to do that, haven’t you?”
Kaine implied that Hegseth couldn’t be trusted to uphold the oath of office because he hadn’t upheld his past vows to his wife. The two went back and forth and Hegseth later said “I’m not a perfect person — I’m not claiming to be.”
While reflecting on the showdown between Hegseth and Senate Democrats, Jennings remarked that Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), went on “unhinged rants about things.”
“Hegseth was cool in the face of this unhinged questioning. They made him look good today. It would be difficult for a Republican to vote against Hegseth after the Democrats’ unseemly mudslinging today,” he added.
Jennings, who previously served as former President George W. Bush’s special assistant, also took note of the protests, including from the left-wing Code Pink group that disrupted proceedings.
“Before the thing even started, you had this like, Code Pink, you know, protest or freak show, trying to disrupt the hearing,” he said. “That’s the Democratic base, by the way, which probably explains why the Democrats on the committee acted in such a bizarre and unprofessional way.”
He mused that Democrats may have “lowered the bar” in terms of expectations for Hegseth, which gave him the opportunity to excel.
Fellow CNN panelist and Democratic pundit Karen Finney, who served on the 2016 Clinton campaign, admitted that the hearing “was as performative as these hearings get.”
“Clearly Hegseth was well-prepared,” Finney said, adding that “I didn’t love” how Democrats approached questioning during the confirmation hearing.
