MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Gleefully Dissects Cringe Hallway Exchange Over Trump Pick Hegseth: ‘That’s a No!’
MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell savored an awkward walk-and-talk exchange between Sen. Joni Ernst and Capitol Hill reporters over her meeting with Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled nominee to run the Department of Defense.
Hegseth’s nomination has been endangered by bombshells like a rape allegation and a 2018 email from Penelope Hegseth to her son in which she called him “an abuser of women,” as well as a devastating whistleblower report.
Wednesday saw Hegseth make a trip to Capitol Hill to try and rally support for his nomination, while his mother sat for a very friendly Fox News interview.
On Wednesday night’s edition of MSNBC’s The Last Word, O’Donnell examined the aftermath of one of those meetings, noting Ernst’s responses to reporters, when she wasn’t walking silently, were not enthusiastic to say the least:
O’DONNELL: There are many things she could have said about that conversation today. She could have said, we had a good conversation. That’s what most senators say about every conversation with a nominee, including the nominees they vote against.
A senator has to say something more positive than “we had a good conversation,” to indicate that the senator is actually supporting the nominee. It is very common for senators to say “I fully support the nominee.” Joni Ernst has said that about other Trump nominees.
Senator Joni Ernst, who is now on the list to replace the nominee, said this about her meeting with Pete Hegseth today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Can you summarize it for us?
SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): It was a very frank and thorough discussion.
REPORTER: Senator, will you support Mr. Hegseth’s nomination?
ERNST: It was a frank and thorough conversation.
NBC’S GARRETT HAAKE: Did he ask for your vote specifically?
ERNST: Thank you.
HAAKE: When you met with Matt Gaetz, you said he brought up some of the allegations against him. Did Hegseth bring up any of these things?
ERNST: It was a very thorough conversation.
HAAKE: And also frank?
REPORTER: Were there any of your concerns alleviated with the (INAUDIBLE), Senator?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guys, we need to be able to walk.
REPORTER: Any chance you’re in consideration as defense secretary, Senator?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O’DONNELL: As you have known and seen (ph), there are many variations on the Senate walk and talk with reporters. The rarest of all is actually walking in absolute silence. Most senators absolutely never do that.
The speed of the walk tells you how much a senator wants to talk to reporters. Joni Ernst was walking as fast as she can, which means she did not want to talk to those reporters. She didn’t want to answer those questions.
She would have loved to come out of a meeting with a Trumpet nominee saying, “This is the greatest nominee for secretary of defense I have ever seen”. She would have loved to please Donald Trump, but she couldn’t. She wasn’t going to come out of that meeting and get into an open war with Donald Trump in front of her Trump-supporting constituents, so she kept it in Senate speak.
Question: Senator, will you support Hegseth’s nomination? Ernst: It was a frank and thorough conversation.
That’s a “no”. She was asked a yes or no question about supporting Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of defense and she did not say yes, and everyone in the Senate knows that answer was a “no”. That is where she is today.
Watch above via MSNBC’s The Last Word.
