Ever since President-elect Donald Trump made the surprising announcement that he intends to nominate veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense, the media has tried to portray him as a troublesome right-wing culture warrior. However, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell took things one step further on Wednesday as she spread straight up fake news about Hegseth.

With the context being that Hegseth has said he opposes putting women in combat roles, Mitchell told Sen. Chris Van Hollen, “Finally, the choice of Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth as the Defense Secretary. He has denounced diversity, equity, and inclusion. He disagrees with women in combat. I don't know what he would say to Senator Duckworth, you know, and all the other women pilots, some of whom, like Senator Duckworth, you know, were grievously wounded in combat. But women have been a key part of piloting these fighter jets, and this goes back more than a decade. So, this would not be viewed a vote on until it would get to the floor if it gets out of committee.”

 

 

Here is what Hegseth actually said about female pilots: “Gimme a female pilot all day long. I have no issues with that.” It was also clear that Hegseth was talking about roles in the special forces “where strength is a differentiator.”

For his part, Van Hollen was happy to play along, “Yeah, a very troubling history of statements like that. We know that women can perform incredibly ably in our military like Senator Tammy Duckworth did. So, this is concerning just as the early conversation you were having is concering where the president would try to, sort of, just pick generals with personal loyalty to him, not to the Constitution. People who are, sort of, more political cronies rather than people are best for our national security.”

It is one thing to ask what Hegseth’s strategic vision for the country and the Pentagon are or if he can make the jump from TV host to massive bureaucratic administrator, but making things up about him is quite another.

Here is a transcript for the November 13 show:

MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports

11/13/2024

12:35 AM ET

ANDREA MITCHELL: Finally, the choice of Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth as the Defense Secretary. He has denounced diversity, equity, and inclusion. He disagrees with women in combat. I don't know what he would say to Senator Duckworth, you know, and all the other women pilots, some of whom, like Senator Duckworth, you know, were grievously wounded in combat. But women have been a key part of piloting these fighter jets, and this goes back more than a decade. So, this would not be viewed a vote on until it would get to the floor if it gets out of committee.

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Yeah, a very troubling history of statements like that. We know that women can perform incredibly ably in our military like Senator Tammy Duckworth did. So, this is concerning just as the early conversation you were having is concering where the president would try to, sort of, just pick generals with personal loyalty to him, not to the Constitution. People who are, sort of, more political cronies rather than people are best for our national security.