Transcription
There are more bipartisan calls for the removal of Pete Hegsth as Secretary of Defense. Here is Republican Congressman Don Bacon saying he seen all he needs to see.
>> After Signalgate, I think I've seen enough. What I really wanted to see was someone take responsibility for a mistake and then when he blamed the media or the, you know, the journalist for the story, it just it ruined his credibility. And he had some issues going into the hearings, but once he got confirmed, I said, "Well, let's give him a fair fair chance." But I what I've seen is what I call uh just a poor decision-making.
There are more calls for the Pentagon to release the full footage from the September 2nd boat strikes in the Caribbean, including the highly controversial second strike, which killed two shipwreck sailors who survived the first strike. Just a handful of congressional lawmakers have seen the footage of that second boat strike. Pete Hgsth was asked about whether or not he's willing to make the video public over the weekend. Here was his response to the question.
>> President Trump said he would have no problem if the full video of the strike is released. When can we see that video? When will you release it?
>> We're reviewing it right now to make sure sources, methods, I mean, it's an ongoing operation. TTPs, we've got operators out there doing this right now. So, whatever we were to decide to release, we'd have to be very responsible about.
You heard the reporter say that Trump would have no problem releasing the video of the second strike. That's because that's what Trump said out loud. And just to remind all of you, here's Trump saying just that.
>> You release video of that first boat strike on September 2nd, but not the second video. Will you release video of that strike so that the American people can see for themselves what?
>> I don't know what they have, but whatever they have, we'd certainly release. No problem. It was last week. Whatever they have, we'd certainly release it. No problem. That's a quote.
Well, in the last hour, Donald Trump, the guy who just said that, we played it for you. Quote, "That would be no problem releasing the video, the second strike," was confronted with what he said not one week ago. And here's how he reacted when pressed on his commitment to his own words to release the video.
>> Mr. President, you said you would have no problem with releasing the full video of that strike on September 2nd off the coast of Venezuela. Secretary Hgstep now says >> that you said that. I didn't say that. This is ABC fake news.
>> You said that you would have no problem releasing the full bit. Okay. Well, Secretary >> Hath whatever Hexath wants to do is okay with me.
>> He now says it's under review. Are you ordering the secretary to release that full video?
>> Whatever he decides is okay with me. So every boat we knock out of the water, every boat we save 25,000 American lives. Uh that was a boat loaded up with drugs. I saw the video >> admitted to releasing the full video.
>> Didn't I just tell you that >> you said that it was up to Secretary >> obnoxious reporter in the whole place. Let me just tell you, you are an obnoxious a terrible actually a terrible reporter and it's always the same thing with you. I told you whatever Pete Hath wants to do is okay with me.
So um I want to bring into our coverage former Captain Margaret Donovan. She was a captain in the army serving in the 101st Airborne Division and later in fifth special forces group. She was also captain of the Jag Corps and is a former assistant US attorney for the District of Connecticut. She's now a visiting lecturer at Yale Law. Claire is still with us. I don't want to zoom past what just happened because I don't ever want it to be normal. Um I have a daughter, I have a son, and it should never be normal that the leader of the free world Well, two things should never be normal. Let's hit pause. Pause. One, Donald Trump is the commander-in-chief and he doesn't remember what he said about releasing the video the second strike four days ago. So, if I said something on TV today that was the opposite or didn't remember what I said on Thursday, I know the names of the right-wing bloggers who would be asking the question, does she forget or did she misspeak? And it's a fair question. Did he forget or did he misspeak? Um, what do you think? I could not pretend to know what is going on in the president's mind. Um, but I will say this, we need transparency. When you have a secretary of defense who is backing into a corner and pointing at the other guy when there is a scandal like this, when there is a very serious situation that requires stability and sobriety and calm headed thinking in an emergency like what the nation is going through right now with this boat strike, you cannot have a lack of leadership um like Secretary Hexath uh and his chain of command above him have displayed. Uh, so I think that the only way that the public is going to have answers and to be able to understand this is if we have a release of the strike. And it pains me to say that and and I know that you knew this, but I used to work air strikes in Iraq and Syria. Those are not enjoyable videos. Um, but you cannot use these videos for content on your social media feed for months and now suddenly say that there are some guard rails that you have to adhere to before you can release it. I think you just have to bear responsibility for your decisions and we're not seeing that here. And to your point, you know, the Secretary of Defense, this might be one of the most important cabinet decisions. In my personal opinion, it is the most important cabinet uh position. And we cannot have our sons and daughters serving in uniform right now to somebody who does not take responsibility, who goes back on his word, who um who you know is unclear about directions, whether it's the president or the secretary, and who isn't going to be transparent with something as serious as this.
Clara, I the second thing I wanted to hit pause on with both of you is and never normalize is the verbal violence, the verbal assault on another female journalist. He called ABC's Rachel Scott today quote obnoxious and terrible. Um December 6th, he called Caitlyn Collins quote stupid and nasty. On November 27th, he said, "Are you stupid?" to CBS journalist Nancy Cordes. On November 26th, he called the New York Times Katie Rogers quote ugly. On November 18th, he called ABC's Mary Bruce terrible and insubordinate. To whom I'm not sure. Um, November 14th, he told a Bloomberg reporter, quote, "Quiet Piggy. This is sick This is sick." And anyone in the room is in the room to do a job for their viewers or their readers. Um, but they should go home tonight and think about whether their sisters or their daughters or their moms or their sons or their husbands or their fathers think that there's something else they should do the next time he calls a female journalist obnoxious, terrible, stupid, nasty, stupid, ugly, terrible, insubordinate, or piggy. Because maybe if if Donald Trump can't live without being on TV and maybe if they they said, "You know what? We're going to have some solidarity like they did with him wanting to change the names of oceans. I mean, we're either going to normalize this and then you're going to hear all sorts of prominent people calling women all sorts of names. I'm sure by the time I get off TV, I'll have a few of those myself. But we're either going to normalize this and usher in an era of unprecedented misogyny or or that press corps is going to act as one and say no more.
>> Yeah. And you know, he does it when he gets caught in a lie. And I think the captain was being, as I would expect, measured and calm and strong in the way she answered your question. Did he just forget or did he misspeak? No, he lied. And he lies so often. That is what has become normal. He thinks he can get away with lying if he attacks the person who's pointing out that he's lying. And you know, Eric Schmidt, the senator from Missouri, you showed in a clip earlier in the program where when he was confronted with a difficult question, he attacked George Stephanopoulos. You saw Marjorie Taylor Green do the same thing on 60 Minutes when she was asked a tough question. They are teaching young people that if you get a question you don't like that will hold you accountable, you either lie or you attack the person asking the question. That's what they're normalizing. And it's very, very sad for people who are supposed to be mentors and role models in terms of how you serve the public. And I got to tell you, the idea that they used all this footage as a social media video game for the guy who says they're try we're trying to make him into a cartoon. Well, he is kind of a cartoon. He's an insecure man and he thinks he needs social media to prop him up. He's using all that video. For them to now say they can't show the second strike because of sources and methods. Are you kidding me? What? Well, you've shown all the video. You've showed it all. Anybody who's running a a a boat through their nose. So, this notion that they're using this excuse on the second video, you know why they're not showing that second video? They're showing the second video because they don't want you to see it because it is ugly.
>> Yeah, they're show not showing the second video because it shows what Congressman Jims and others have said it shows. Um, >> exactly. I I