Mike Johnson ‘Optimistic’ About Pete Hegseth Getting Chance To ‘Shake Up the Status Quo’ Amid Controversies: ‘We’ve All Made Mistakes In Our Lives’
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Saturday that he’s “optimistic” about Pete Hegseth’s chances of being confirmed as Secretary of Defense amid the former Fox News host’s controversies.
Johnson joined Hegseth’s former co-hosts on Fox & Friends Weekend and said he spoke to him this week and he’s in “good spirits.” President-elect Donald Trump has stood behind his nominee to lead the Department of Defense amid blowback. Hegseth has faced reports highlighting a payment over a sexual assault allegation — which he denies and no charges were ever filed — and others suggesting a drinking problem, which he’s also denied. Hegseth’s mother has even been thrown into the mix after The New York Times published a years-old email in which she called her son an “abuser of women,” something she said she immediately retracted, chalking it up to an emotional time during a messy divorce for her son.
Johnson praised Hegseth for his handling of the controversies.
He said:
I’m optimistic about it. I’ve talked to a number of senators personally on The Hill just over the last couple of days and it seems like the momentum’s moving the right way. Look, I like how he’s approached it. We’ve all made mistakes in our lives, but we believe in redemption. What Pete brings to the table is a love for the military, a great education background, a great experience set, I think he’s well-suited for the job. And he will shake up the status quo, which is why this pick is so important. That’s why President Trump — that’s the common denominator, people who shake it up.
“No one who has made those reports has ever come to us and asked us about it,” Rachel Campos-Duffy, Hegseth’s former co-host, added.
Johnson called Hegseth a “threat” to Washington DC and noted that his colleagues at Fox were full of praise for the former Fox & Friends Weekend host, calling them his “biggest fans.”
He said:
He’s a threat to them because he will shake up the status quo. I got here a little bit early this morning, I was in the makeup room, hair and makeup, these ladies, professionals, extraordinary staff you have here at Fox News, they were back there, and they were telling me how much they miss Pete, ‘we love him so much, he’s professional and so great,’ they showed me their social media posts where they’re defending him. These are people that have been working with him for, what, eight years he’s been at Fox? They’re his biggest fans.
Watch above via Fox News.
