Newsmax's Greg Kelly: Pete Hegseth “hasn't done nearly enough for MAGA to warrant the Department of Defense job. And he's got serious baggage.”
Greg Kelly: Hegseth spent years “on the Fox and Friends couch. And that's great. That's a great gig. Back in the day, I did that job. In fact, I interviewed Pete Hegseth a number of times to learn how much he supported the war in Iraq.”
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From the December 4, 2024, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
GREG KELLY (HOST): And that brings me to Pete Hegseth. You know what? This is MAGA. Are we going to be like China? Are we going to be like the Democrats if you step out of line? Oh, they're going to hurt you so bad. They're going to primary you. They're going to audit you. They're going to — Pete Hegseth is no Matt Gaetz. He hasn't done nearly enough for MAGA to warrant the Department of Defense job. And he's got serious baggage. Serious baggage. It happens sometimes. Not every pick is perfect.
Where do I get this stuff, by the way? Not from the fake news, but from this guy. Tim Parlatore is Hegseth's attorney, and he's been making all kinds of statements that I don't think are particularly helpful to Tim Hegseth, like confirming everything in the New York Times story. And it's just — so he's putting out some information himself, and the email from the mom to Pete in 2018 made some people upset. Right? Well, Steve Doocy read from it today right in front of Pete Hegseth's mother.
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KELLY: Really nice, right? But there are some problems here. Sorry. Big time. According to Pete's lawyer, Pete is blackmailable. Two years before that email was sent, Pete Hegseth was conferring with President Trump at Trump Tower about a high level political appointments, maybe even as secretary of Veterans Affairs. He was at the Trump Tower. He had that conversation. And that's fine. Right? But two years later, he is blackmailed by a woman who falsely accuses him, but he pays money to her anyway. Is he a new man? Anybody can be forgiven, I know that. I know that. If you ask for forgiveness, of course. Is Hunter Biden a new man? OK? Is he? That that laptop came to light in 2018. Is everything on that laptop — when I go to that email — OK, yeah, go to the email. I also went to his text messages, folks. I did.
A lot of folks are saying also that, well, how about Trump? He was married three times and this, that, and the other thing, Trump. Let's talk about Trump. Right? We've been vetting the guy for 40 years. We know him. We voted for him. 77 million people. The scrutiny — years and years, four years if you add it up of running for president, being president and all the years before. I think we know everything about this guy. Pete Hegseth, most of us met him just the other day, and it's great that he served in the military.
And let's talk about the military service. When you're in the military, there are unique rules. The Uniform Code of Military Justice. That's a special kind of set of laws that govern people in uniform. And one of them pertains to adultery. Now, a lot of folks think adultery is, oh, that's quaint. They should take that law off the books in the military. Adultery. Yeah. It can be punishable by a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay. You can get in all kinds of trouble for having those kinds of relations. OK, folks. Now, well, why — New York State just took it off the books. Why doesn't the military? I'll tell you why the military doesn't. Because the military is unique. You go away to sea for six months, nine months. You say goodbye to your loved ones, your girlfriends, your wife — your husbands these days. And you leave them on base, sometimes with 40,000 other guys and girls. You know what I'm getting at, right? OK. Things happen. Things happen. Even with it against the law. So with Pete, who is a — has told people quite openly that he's not good at being married, that's a situation for the folks in uniform. I speak from experience. Number one, I made a hell of a lot of mistakes. I am no angel, but I'm also not the nominee for secretary of defense. Nor would I be, alright. No, I can't, I understand that I can deal with that. I was on the military for nine years. Active duty. Iraq flew over during Operation Southern Watch, went back as a journalist. I know the culture. I know what flies, and I know what doesn't.
Now, if I were a United States senator — I wouldn't be the secretary of defense, but you never know, right? Pete Hegseth shows up for his confirmation hearings, if he makes it to the confirmation hearings. Where has he been thus far? He's spent the bulk of his, I don't know, the last nine years or so on that on that couch, right on the Fox and Friends couch. And that's great. That's a great gig. Back in the day, I did that job. In fact, I interviewed Pete Hegseth a number of times to learn how much he supported the war in Iraq. What a great idea that was. He wasn't the only one. A lot of people made that mistake. He calls himself a recovering neocon. Neocon. But if I were talking to Pete Hegseth as a United States Senator, I would want to know more about his journalism career. I would ask him, so you were the anchor of Fox and Friends for nine years. Tell me about the most important January 6th story you ever did? Have you ever done anything about January 6th? Have you ever done anything about Ashli Babbitt? Have you gone deep with Ashli Babbitt? Have you gone there? What about when Fox News called Arizona like, what, 20 minutes after the polls closed and changed the course of history? Did you repeat that claim the next day? Were you on the set? So if anybody gets a little bit fatigued about the truth that we utter here, I'll remind you we're special and we're better than Fox.