President-elect Donald Trump is not having second thoughts about his pick of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, his team told The Post on Wednesday, despite MSNBC host Joe Scarborough’s claims to the contrary.
The “Morning Joe” co-host had dined on a meeting between Trump, Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday.
“I will say in the background, in our conversation in the background, there are a few things that surprised us,” confesses Scarborough, 61. “One of them was, when his name came up, there was not a tremor, but an obvious one.” We have problems here.”
When pressed by others on set, the former Florida congressman confirmed he was referring to Hegseth, a longtime Fox News personality and Army National Guardsman.
“These were not the words [used]”, added Scarborough. “But I’ll just tell you it was the handshake.”
“Scarborough is wrong,” Trump’s transition communications director, Steven Cheung, told The Post. “Pete Hegseth dedicated his entire life as a warrior to our troops and our country. Pete served our country as an Army combat veteran who served tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan. For his actions on the battlefield, he was decorated with two bronze stars, as well as a combat infantry badge.
“He is an incredibly tough and smart candidate who will fight to put America first,” Cheung added. “With Pete as our Secretary of Defense, America’s enemies are on notice and our military will be great again.”
Hegseth, now 44, was accused in 2017 of sexual assault by an employee of a conservative group.
His attorney told The Post in an interview that the decorated veteran was “blackmailed” into paying his accuser out of fear for his career at the height of the #MeToo movement.
“Basically, he was completely innocent. He did nothing wrong here,” said the attorney, Timothy Parlatore. “We went through mediation and eventually settled for much less than she wanted. And that should have buried him completely.
“He had a lot to drink, and according to video surveillance and eyewitness testimony, this woman who was sober took advantage of him and she was aggressive,” Parlatore added.
“She took him by the arm and led him to his room.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, April 25, 2015. Reuters
Hegseth, a devout Catholic, has been married three times and has four children. He has also adopted three children from his current wife’s first marriage.
On Tuesday night, Hegseth called the Republican National Committee’s engagement prayer call and spoke about the attacks against him after his nomination.
“When you stand up for good and right and truth and faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the world will come after you,” the nominee said at one point after offering a prayer for the president-elect and his incoming administration .
MSNBC did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Post.
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