Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) ruled out President-elect Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel for FBI Director in an interview aired Sunday. I didn't.
“You met Pete Hegseth,” ABC News' Jonathan Karl said in an interview on “This Week,” to which Fetterman replied that he had.
“Do you think he's qualified to be Secretary of Defense?” Kahl asked Fetterman.
“Well, I think we're going to learn more. We're going to learn more. And there's going to be, uh, that hearing, and the FBI background and all that. But, you know, my promise, and I What I think does its job is sitting down and having conversations,” Fetterman responded.
“And the president chose these people,” he continued. “It's not a first choice, second choice, third choice, but that's democracy. And to me, if he's confirmed, I think the Democrats are going to collectively turn their backs on the leadership of the National Party.” If so, that's alarming. I mean, that's alarming and dangerous.”
“So I think you tend to actively support these controversial candidates. You may not be able to support them all, but you see yourself I can—” Carl said.
“Potentially,” Fetterman replied. “But there will be some voices voting yes and others voting no.”
Hegseth has recently faced accusations of past alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct.
Despite the controversy, Hegseth said he would not back down and suggested in posts on social platform X that he was the target of a smear campaign by Democrats.
In his interview with Kahl, Fetterman also revealed that he recently spoke with Patel, Trump's nominee for FBI director. Patel has generally described the FBI as being under the “deep state,” and said many of those who oppose the president-elect need to be “held accountable and exposed.” He also said that it was a gang.
“So you like Kash Patel more than you thought? Do you think you can support him?” Karl asked Fetterman in an interview on “This Week.”
“I mean, how much can you absorb in 30 minutes? But I've learned different things, I've heard different things, and I don't regret having them. “I have never walked out of an interview saying things like, “It was a waste of time,'' or “I regret it,'' Fetterman said.
