Former Republican National Committee spokesperson Tim Miller said Pete Hegseth’s personal life is “total disaster” even if you believe his side of the story.
Hegseth, the Fox News host who Donald Trump nominated for defense secretary, claims he was cleared of sexual assault allegations stemming from a 2017 incident during a Republican conference at a hotel in California.
Hegseth said the encounter was consensual and entered a nondisclosure agreement with the woman in 2020.
But Miller said on MSNBC on Thursday that even Hegseth’s perspective on events is disturbing enough to sink his “preposterous” nomination.
“Here’s what Pete Hegseth is pitching people happened in this situation: In this situation, he’s drunk at a conservative conference. At 1:30 am, he’s screaming about how he has freedom of speech and berating a hotel staffer,” Miller said, referring to details from a police report. “Then he takes a woman back to his hotel room for what he says is consensual sex.”
Miller pointed out that Hegseth was at the time in the process of getting divorced from his second wife because he had a child with a coworker, who would become his third wife.
“I’m not judging anybody that’s been divorced or whatever, like this guy’s life is a disaster. This guy’s personal life is a total disaster,” Miller said. “And he has a love child, and he’s in between marriages, and he’s drunkenly shouting at hotel staff and he’s having another affair, meanwhile, with not one of the three women that are his wives. If somebody’s personal life is that much of a disaster would you want them in one of the most important jobs in the world?”
Miller said some might be willing to overlook those issues in a candidate with the right resume for the job and better judgement in their professional life.
“But he’s a talk show host,” he said. “He’s a weekend morning talk show host. This is a preposterous pick on every level: He’s not qualified for the job and the judgement that he’s shown privately leaves much to be desired.”