The Megyn Kelly Show - Megyn Kelly's Instant Analysis of Pete Hegseth Hearing and Dem Absurdity, with Michael Knowles, Dakota Meyer, and Rob O'Neill | Ep. 982

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Megyn Kelly opens the show live from Washington, D.C. after attending Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing by discussing what she observed, why she thinks Hegseth will be confirmed easily, and the terrible performance by Democratic women. Then The Daily Wire's Michael Knowles, host of The Michael Knowles Show, to talk about Senator Tim Kaine's outrageous questions to Hegseth during the confirmation hearing on domestic violence and assault allegations, his hypocrisy after campaigning with Bill Clinton and Doug Emhoff, Sen. Mazie Hirono's embarrassing questions of Hegseth, the screechy performance by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and more. Then military veterans Dakota Meyer and Rob O'Neill join to give their perspective on Hegseth’s confirmation hearing, the terrible treatment of Hegseth by Democratic senators, the way he was able to push back against the questions, the challenges the military is facing including wokeness, the need for real accountability for leadership failures, Hegseth's unique perspective, and more.Knowles- https://www.dailywire.com/Meyer- https://dakotameyer.com/O'Neill- https://rjoapparel.com/Home Title Lock: Go to https://HomeTitleLock.com/megynkelly and use promo code MEGYN to get a 30-day FREE trial of Triple Lock Protection and a FREE title history report!Tax Network USA: https://TNUSA.com/MEGYNByrna: Get 10% Off at https://Byrna.com/MegynFollow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow

Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at noon east. Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, coming to you today from Washington, D.C., where we just attended the Senate confirmation hearing of Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth. We've got the whole hearing covered gavel to gavel for you today. We're going to be joined in a second by Rob O'Neill and Dakota Meyer, Medal of Honor winner, in just a bit. And Michael Knowles will be here to kick things off in two seconds. But first, just want to give you my overall thoughts. No one laid a glove on him. He's good. He's got this. I have zero doubts now that

he will be confirmed. Joni Ernst was the big question mark. And she was great today. She was very nice in her questioning of him, very respectful. That's not a no vote. No way. And, you know, this is just the Senate Armed Services Committee. He has got to he'll get out of committee. And but like she was the big pivotal vote, even if Trump is going to lose potentially McConnell, potentially Murkowski and Collins, which now they're saying he might not. I don't I don't think Pete Hegseth has trouble. I think he's going to get confirmed. And I don't think anybody touched him. And really, to me, the story of the day was how some of these Democrat senators embarrassed themselves trying to. I was humiliated for some. Why do the women always have to be so shitty? Why do the women have to be like these hysterical fools? Why can't they be more dignified?

You know, like you could lay gloves on him. I mean, Tim Kaine was the worst. I should say that up front. The worst, the most disgusting, I should say. But he wasn't like an hysteric. Maisie Hirono is so dumb. I can't believe she's a U.S. senator. Christian Gillibrand was like, women can be in combat. You've hurt our feelings. It's like, oh, my God, you are undermining the very cause that I know you so desperately want to promote right now. So I was embarrassed for them. I was embarrassed for my sex and how they were behaving today. Then there was Slotkin, who's the newest Democrat over on the left side. And while her background sounded impressive, she'd been with the CIA and so on. She was so annoying. Oh, I know you've genuflected. Okay, you've done your genuflection to Donald

Trump. Like everyone was just, there's a way of doing cross-examination where you don't wind up the least likable between the person you're crossing and yourself. And obviously these people, most of them haven't done it. You can tell the difference. You see a Trey Gowdy cross-examination, you think he's the man. That guy knows what he's doing. You see these people try to do it. You're like, are you trying to make me hate you? I'm not inclined to hate you just because you're a dem or against Pete. You're just behaving like a prick. Anyway, before I bring in Michael, I just want to say, so I went there today.

I've never gone to a Senate confirmation hearing as like a regular person as opposed to as a member of the press. I did it because the Hegseths invited me. And I said, you know what, This would be a great experience for me for a couple of reasons. Number one, I do support Pete Hegseth and am very happy to telegraph to the world that I do and that I hope he gets through. And if my sitting there in any way telegraphs

to people who need it to be telegraphed, that it would be a good thing to support him and that I think the allegations against him are bullshit. Great. I'll do it. Fine. But number two, I did think it would be a fascinating experience for me, too, having been on the other side so many times, not as a senator, but as a member of the media, just covering these things to see what it's like to be in the middle of it all. And my takeaway is it's very, very boring. You had to sit there from 930 straight. We got out at two. There are no breaks. Well, some kept it kind of exciting. For the most part, it was like, especially these Democrat senators who just want to hear themselves talk.

You know, the Republicans actually asked him questions that would help us get to know him a bit. The Dems, for the most part, just grandstanded. And that was annoying. It's like, fine. It was a freezing cold room. It doesn't really make you want to run out and run for Senate. I'll say that. So Chris Murphy of Connecticut, you should be feeling good because I'm less inclined to take your job now. But when I decide to take it, it will be mine because you're a disaster. Anywho, it was just, did we really learn anything or was it all just like an exercise in preening, right? Mostly on the Dem side and the Republicans in earnest trying to search for some answers

on what Pete's gonna do inside defense that would be different. I enjoyed that. Anyway, enough about me. I think he's getting through. I think he did his job. And one top Democrat Senator told me he thought that this was going to be the

toughest hearing for Trump's nominees, like worse than RFKJ, worse than Tulsi. So we'll see if that's true. Trump should be feeling great right now because my prediction is Pete will have no problems. Bringing in now Michael Knowles. He's host of the Michael Knowles show on The Daily Wire. Did you know that American homeowners nationwide have over $32 trillion in equity? And cyber criminals are targeting it right now with a growing scam the FBI calls house stealing. House alarms, doorbell cams, deadbolts,

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and that's exactly what scammers are counting on. Make sure you're not already a victim. You can get a free title history report and a 30-day free trial of Triple Lock Protection today by going to hometitlelock.com and and using the promo code Megan, or just click on the link in the description. That's HomeTitleLock.com, promo code M-E-G-U-I-N, HomeTitleLock.com. Michael Knowles, did any one of these senators jump out to you more than another? They all jumped out of the screen at me and made me turn down my earpieces because of how shrill and awful they were. But in terms of impressing me in their questioning, absolutely not. Pete did even better than I thought he would do. As you say, Megan, they didn't lay a glove on him. Pete Hegseth will

be the next Secretary of Defense. People had questions about Pete's qualifications for the Pentagon going in. I don't think people really have questions about that right now. I think, in fact, the result of this hearing is that people have questions about the qualifications of these Democrat senators. It was humiliating. They went absolutely nowhere. So Pete was the first confirmation hearing, and many people were suggesting he would be one of the more difficult. Notice, though, how these hearings have been scheduled. It opened up with Pete and then all the rest of them today, tomorrow, Thursday were relatively easy. These are kind of shoe-in people in terms of Tulsi, in terms of Bobby Kennedy, in terms of Kash Patel. Some of the more controversial nominees, you'll notice that they were pushed a little bit later in the process. I think Pete Hegseth was the canary in the

coal mine. I think that the Trump team wanted to see how much pushback they would get from the US senators. Pete absolutely knocked them down. It was a complete strike down the bowling alley. Not one of them was left standing afterward. So not only does this bode very well for Pete, not only does this bode very well for the shoe-in nominees that Trump has coming up, but I think even the more controversial ones are going to make it through a major, major win for the Trump transition. Okay. There wasn't anything more disgusting today than Tim Kaine. Tim Kaine, who literally pulled out the old, how long have you been beating your wife? I mean, it was stunning.

We know the allegations against Pete. We know that Pete has been a serial cheater on his wives. That is known. Okay, so that's fair game, I guess. If you want to go there, you can go there. You could go with the anonymous, you know, the alleged rape accuser. Her story fell apart. It was telling that pretty much nobody really zeroed in too much on that one.

But how long have you been beating your wife is defamatory. Not literally because you can't sue senators for what they're saying in this context. But my point is that was so below the belt for Tim Kaine. Let's just take a listen to some of Tim Kaine today. At that time, you were still married to your second wife, correct? I believe so. And you had just fathered a child by a woman who would later become your third wife, correct? Senator, I was falsely charged, fully investigated and completely cleared.

So you think you were completely cleared because you committed no crime. That's your definition of cleared? You had just fathered a child two months before by a woman that was not your wife. I am shocked that you would stand here and say you're completely cleared. Senator, her child's name is Gwendolyn Hope Hegseth, and she's a child of God, and she's seven years old. And you cheated on the mother of that child less than two months after that daughter was born, didn't you? Those were false charges. It was fully investigated, and that was completely cleared.

And I am so grateful for the marriage I have to this woman behind me. You've admitted that you had sex at that hotel on october 2017 now if it had been a sexual assault that would be disqualifying to be secretary of defense wouldn't it if it's a false claim then and a false claim now if it had been a sexual assault that would be disqualifying to be secretary of defense wouldn't? That was a false claim. He's talking about a hypothetical. So you can't tell me whether someone who has committed a sexual assault is disqualified from being Secretary of Defense? Senator, I know in my instance, and I'm talking about my instance only, it was a false claim. That's good. I assume that in each of your weddings, you've

pledged to be faithful to your wife. You've taken an oath to do that, haven't you? Senator, as I've acknowledged to everyone in this committee, I'm not a perfect person. I'm not claiming to be. No, I just asked a simple question. You've taken an oath like you would take an oath to be Secretary of Defense on all of your weddings to be faithful to your wife. Is that correct? I have failed in things in my life, and thankfully I'm redeemed by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Okay. I will get to the domestic violence accusation in a second because that was the wrong soundbite, but it is a relevant soundbite that we want to get to. This guy with his holier-than-thou on the cheating allegations and what he did was Hillary Clinton's running mate. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So this, this man was fine with Bill Clinton, right? This man who wants us to

believe any extramarital activity is abhorrent to him. He's disgusted by it. That's the same Tim Kaine, right? We're talking about the same Bill Clinton, no problem, fine, but as president, right? Or Hillary too. But this is a bridge too far, Pete Hegseth, even after he's admitted to being unfaithful in his marriages and then getting on the straight and narrow. This is the guy. Look at him. Look at him with his head on Bill Clinton's shoulder. He loves Bill Clinton.

Accused by sexual assault or rape by how many women? How many affairs has he had on Hillary Clinton? And he wants to get out there and lecture us on Pete, Peg, Seth, Michael Knowles. It was a complete joke. So it was fitting that Tim Kaine looked like Jack Nicholson's Joker from the Tim Burton Batman. Someone needed to hand that man a comb before he walked into the hearings. And he goes there with that wild look on his face and he says, you think you're cleared just because you were cleared of charges against you? To which Pete Hegseth, he didn't say anything. He just said, yeah, as you say, he's preening about this. This is a man that we've only ever heard of because of his political alliance with the Clintons. This is also a man who voted in federal law to abolish the definition of marriage. So listen, I'm gratified that Tim

Cain has had this sudden change of heart, and he now takes so seriously the sanctity of marriage. And also, I'll give Tim Cain credit. His attack on Pete Hegseth's personal life was by far the strongest of any of the similar attempted attacks from the other Democrat senators. And the fact that Kaine's was the strongest shows you just how weak it was. But the rest of them, Elizabeth Warren, Jill Abram, for goodness sakes, Maisie Hirono. They didn't even come close. So the Democrats came out there. Tammy Duckworth, give me a break. It was really, really weak. And so I'm actually surprised because knowing that Pete's was going to be the first confirmation hearing, the canary in the coal mine, I expected the Democrats to make this Kavanaugh 2.0. However,

Pete Hegseth had a real advantage going into this hearing, which is that people thought, because he's a good-looking guy who smiles well and did a morning TV show, people thought that this guy was kind of dumb or incompetent. And they failed to look at his resume, which kept coming up today, to realize he's extremely educated. He has served his country honorably. He's been under fire, literally, on many occasions. And he was not going to be pushed around by Kristen Gillibrand or Elizabeth Warren or certainly not Tim Kaine. It looked, from the perspective of Pete, it looked like he was shooting fish in a barrel. Okay. I just want to say one more thing about Tim Kaine.

All right, so first of all, not only was he running for office with Hillary Clinton, he was totally fine with the Clintons' behavior, no problem whatsoever. But Pete Hegseth is a bridge too far for him, okay? Fine. But he was campaigning with Doug Emhoff after the allegations against Doug M. Hoff about banging the nanny while still married to his first wife, allegedly impregnating said nanny, and then she lost the baby somehow, and abusing some other girlfriend by slamming her in the face. Tim Kaine out there with Doug M. Hoff. Yeah, let's go blue. But Pete Hegseth is a disgusting dirtbag who little Tim Kaine out there with Doug Emhoff. Yeah, let's go blue. That's no, but Pete Hegseth is a disgusting dirtbag who little Tim Kaine can't stand.

This is like how it just oozed out of my, like you're watching it. You're like, disdain is oozing out of my pores. Like, I have to tell you, Michael, it's very hard, especially for someone in my position or your position to sit in there and not stand up and start answering the questions. Like, are you fucking kidding me, Tim Kaine? Take a seat. position or your position to sit in there and not stand up and start answering the questions like,

are you fucking kidding me, Tim Kaine? Take a seat. It was very, very hard. And then I've got to get to point number two on Tim Kaine. I know the allegations against Pete backward and forward. Trust me, I have researched them all. I did a comprehensive interview with the guy where we went over every single one. Beating his wife is not on the list and the nerve of Tim Kaine to come out there and throw it out there. Watch. Did you ever engage in any acts of physical violence against any of your wives? Senator, absolutely not. But you would agree with me that if someone had committed physical violence against a spouse, that would be disqualifying to serve as Secretary of Defense, correct? Senator, absolutely not have I ever done that. You would agree that that would be a disqualifying offense, would you not?

Senator, you're talking about a hypothetical. I don't think it's a hypothetical. Violence against spouses occurs every day. And if you as a leader are not capable of saying that physical violence against a spouse should be a disqualifying fact for being secretary of the most powerful nation in the world, you're demonstrating an astonishing lack of judgment. He didn't seem to care about Doug Emhoff's violence against women, which actually is backed up by a whole report by an attorney who was his girlfriend, who she filed it anonymously, but she filed it in the Daily Mail. What is he talking about? What is this? This is just a blatant character assassination attempt. Megan, is it wrong that I'm most scandalized in that stupid question by the inability of a sitting U.S. senator to know what a hypothetical is?

Tim Kaine said, if such and such occurred, that would be disqualifying, right? And Pete rightly said, Senator, you're asking me to engage in a hypothetical. And Tim Kaine, with this unearned haughtiness, says, ha ha, I don't think that's a hypothetical. It's literally a hypothetical. And Tim Kaine, with this unearned haughtiness, says, I don't think that's a hypothetical. It's literally a hypothetical. That's how the English language works. That is not up for debate, Senator. You know, this is supposed to be the greatest deliberative body in the world. These people have a loose grasp on the English language. We haven't even gotten to Maisie Hirono yet. No serious country would ever have Maisie Hirono as a senator. It was appalling, Megan. No serious country would have

her. And yet we do. She was an embarrassment. Here's a little sampling of her. Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement relating to this kind of conduct? Senator, I was falsely accused in October of 2017. It was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared. I don't think completely cleared is accurate. Will you resign as Secretary of Defense if you drink on the job, which is a 24-7 position? I've made this commitment on behalf of the men and women I'm serving. Will you resign as Secretary of Defense if you drink on the job, which is a 24-7 position. I've made this commitment on behalf of the men and women I'm serving. Will you resign as Secretary of Defense if you drink on the job?

I've made this commitment on behalf of the men and women I'm serving. I'm not hearing an answer to my question, so I'm going to move on. Would you carry out an order to shoot protesters in the legs as directed to Secretary of State? I saw 50 secret service agents get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence, set the church on fire and destroy a statue. You know what, that sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. You will shoot protesters in the leg. Wait, there's more. She pressed him on Greenland too.

She has us invading Greenland in SAAD 18. Yes. Would you use our military to take over Greenland or an ally of Denmark? Senator, one of the things that President Trump is so good at is never strategically tipping his hand. And so I would never in this public forum give one way or another direct what orders the president would give me in any context. It sounds to me that you would contemplate carrying out such an order to basically invade Greenland and take over the Panama Canal. How about a trade, Megan? How about, listen, I love Hawaii. It is one of my absolute favorite places on earth. I'm beginning to think we might have made a mistake in 1959. So what if it's just a fair trade to Denmark? Denmark gets Hawaii, they get Maisie Hirono, and we get Greenland. was just so she thought she was scoring points you know you could kind of feel that she was like yeah i got him again we all the rest of us are laughing at her everybody in the gallery was

laughing at her so that was mazy but i mean honestly i i don't want to choose like the worst woman but the kirsten gillibrand was she was the worst like hysterical first of all she looks like she's aged 30 years in the past four. Like I looked around and she looked like a woman in her mid forties last time I looked at her. And then from afar, I was like, she looks like an elderly woman over there. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to attack her personally. I'm just saying like, I think the job has been a lot for her. And it's also backed up by her hysterics. Like, people's feelings are hurt. Here's a sample.

We have hundreds, hundreds of women who are currently in the infantry. Lethal members of our military serving in the infantry. But you degrade them. You say, we need moms, but not in the military, especially in combat units. So please explain these types of statements because they're brutal and they're mean. And I would point out I've never disparaged women serving in the military.

I respect every single female service member that has put on the uniform past and present. My critiques, Senator, recently and in the past and from personal experience have been instances where I've seen standards lowered. Senator, recently and in the past, and from personal experience, have been instances where I've seen standards lowered. So just, you cannot denigrate women in general, and your statements do that. We don't want women in the military, especially in combat. What a terrible statement. Everything you've said in these public statements is politics. I don't want women. I don't want

moms. What's wrong with a mom, by the way? Once you have babies, you therefore are no longer able to be lethal because I don't want you thinking can't serve if you're a mom, can't serve if you're LGBTQ. And then last, can't serve if you're a leftist. Michael, thoughts? Yeah, I think that Kirsten Gillibrand began her line of questioning trying to persuade people that women do belong in combat. And I think by the end of it, she had people wondering if women belong in the United States Senate. That was really awful. I think we need Senator Megyn Kelly to go restore the reputation of women in the deliberative body. She did not persuade anybody of anything. No, I don't know why they, you know, I, on this

show, sometimes I, I have a temper, I'll get out, whatever. If I were in the Senate, I trust me, I would be composed and I would be able to make my points without getting hysterical. Yeah. I wrote it down in my notes. It was like one of the few notes I took at one point, she says, your comments are so hurtful. They're so hurtful. They're so mean. To whom? To the warfighters? So you're saying the female warfighters' feelings are hurt? Do you see how you're undermining your own point, madam? Are they warfighters who can go in there and take bullets? Or are they like weepy little schoolgirls who, Pete, you know, hurt their feelings and they need a public apology?

Go ahead. Even to raise this point of women who are in the military who are mothers, that maybe it's not the best idea to go send our mothers out there to go catch bullets from jihadis. Maybe there's something a little weird about that. You know, it's so disingenuous, the objections that she's making, because when it comes to all of these questions, until very, very recently, we didn't have women in combat. Everyone agreed, Republicans, Democrats, independents, women should not be in combat catching bullets from terrorists. Until very, very recently, we all agreed men who think that they're women don't belong in the military. They belong in counseling because there's something that's gone wrong in their heads. Until very, very recently, we all agreed men who think that they're women don't belong in the military. They belong in counseling because there's something that's going wrong in their heads. Until very, very recently, we all agreed that DEI and all other forms of political correctness and methods of promotion that are not based on lethality and merit have no place in the military.

Everyone agreed with that until the obama administration basically and and so to suggest now that that to uh... want to rewind the clock back to those long ago days of what twenty thirteen or something that that is somehow regressive and beyond the pale it's just absurd i mean this is the kind of radicalism that the american people rejected at the ballot box in november and i don't think the mood has changed between that time and Kristen Gillibrand's shrill line of questioning. I loved how Senator Wicker was the chair and he did a great job. He's like, no, you're not getting a second round of questioning.

We're going to run this the same way we ran the last two when the Dems were in charge. And then you've got the ranking member, Jack Reed, who was making all sorts of points, but here's what I love about it. He had all sorts of points. He was trying to score against Pete, but this is how he would do it. Well, I would like the record to reflect that.

I want to say the following terrible things about Pete. I have to have all the terrible things about Pete. He got so far away from the microphone every time he spoke. You couldn't hear him at all. His staff put a note in front of him saying, get in front of the microphone. You can't hear you. He listened to it one time.

And for the rest of the time, he was like, and another thing about Pete Higgs. Good. It was better for them. It was better for the Democrats that people not hear their ridiculous arguments. You know, on this point of rhetoric and oratory and showmanship, this was the point. I forget which Democrat senator raised it about Pete Hegseth. I think it might have been Mark Kelly who said, look, I'd vote for you for Pentagon spokesman, but I'm not voting for you to be the head of the Pentagon because you're just a smooth talker basically. That manifestly was not true.

He just also happens to be a good communicator. He's a guy who has multiple degrees from very prestigious institutions, who has served in combat, who has led troops, who has fought for veterans, who has gotten legislation advanced. He is a really serious and accomplished guy. Oh, and he also happens to be a good communicator. who has gotten legislation advanced. He is a really serious and accomplished guy. Oh, and he also happens to be a good communicator. Maybe that would be a nice thing. You know, the U.S. senators don't even know how to use a microphone. Maybe it would be good in an era when the American people so distrust our institutions to have a guy who is competent, intelligent, educated, right-minded, and also able to speak to people in a persuasive way

as he did during his confirmation hearings one more for you how great was it when senator mullen of oklahoma took the mic and got up there and just unleashed on everybody on the other side like you're a bunch of drunks you think he's a drink you're drunks you show here watch watch this there's a lot about qualifications i think it's so hypocritical of senators, especially on the other side. I'll be talking about his qualifications, not going to lead the secretary or be the secretary of defense. And yet your qualifications aren't any better. Your own secretary that you all voted for, Secretary of Austin, we had to vote on a waiver

because he stepped off the board of Raytheon. But I guess that's okay because that's a Democrat, Secretary of Defense. The senator from Virginia starts bringing up the fact that what if you showed up drunk to your job? How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Oh boy. Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign from their job? And don't tell me you haven't seen it because I know you have. And then how many senators do you know have got a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did you ask them to step down? No? But it's for show.

You guys make sure you make a big show and point out the hypocrisy because a man's made a mistake. Great. Look at Tim Kaine. Tim Kaine doesn't say boo because everything that Senator Mullen said was obviously true. This is not even the sort of thing that only the senators know about. This is widely known in Washington, D.C. Anybody who's ever spent any time around Capitol Hill knows this. The percentage of senators who sleep with staff members or lobbyists or members of the media is pretty significant. And the number of senators who show up to Voterama, maybe they've had a few drinks. It's a lot. And that's why all of those Democrat senators were dead silent. You know, He was great because they were puffing themselves up so much as these arbiters of morality.

These are the kinds of people who support murdering babies and castrating little children but all of a sudden, they have such moral authority. They're going to castigate Pete Hegseth, a man who has quite clearly turned his life around. They're going to attack him for past misdeeds. And then you get Mullen in there. He says, hey, guys, I'd like to enter into the record this giant mirror. Do you remember who you are?

Yeah, okay, great. Please usher along our Secretary of Defense. Here's the other thing. One other thing. They were like, how many people did you manage at Concern Veterans for America? How many people did you manage at Vets for Freedom? And he was like, you know, maybe eight to ten. Eight to ten.

Eight to ten. That's all. And you're going to manage all these people at the Department of Defense? And he finally said, you know, I'm going to work for a CEO who is extremely successful. How many people had Barack Obama managed before they made him president? Okay. He was a community organizer. He didn't do anything managing people. I mean, literally nothing. He was, he went to Harvard law school.

He worked like a summer at Sidley and Austin, I think. And then he decided to be a community organizer becoming an activist. He managed no one. Pete Hegseth on the battlefield as a major commanded far more people in advance of this role than Barack Obama ever did. And their party made him commander in chief. The nerve of these people, Michael Knowles, I'll give you the last word. I loved the correction when the chairman said, I'd just like to point out that Pete Hegseth has managed many more people than the average United States senator. These people who sat in judgment of Pete today had absolutely no credibility to attack him. They didn't bring the goods. Pete Hegseth is going to be the Secretary of Defense, and the rest of Trump's nominees are going to have a much

easier time because of it. Yes, totally agree. Thank you, Michael Knowles. Great to see you. Great to be with you. Thanks, Megan. All right, coming up next, Dakota Meyer and Rob O'Neill, those warfighters that we were hearing so much about today from Pete and others, they'll respond to what they saw. Are you overwhelmed with back taxes or unfiled returns?

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I want to get more reaction now to Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing from two men who know exactly what we need in a secretary of defense. Dakota Meyer, an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran who became the first living Marine in over 40 years to receive the Medal of Honor in 2011. Along with Rob O'Neill, a U.S. Navy SEAL veteran who participated in over 400 combat operations, including the raid that killed bin Laden. He's the man who did it. He's now the host of the Operator podcast. Guys, great to see you again. How you doing? Good. Doing well, Megan. Thanks for having us. Oh, my gosh. I'm dying to hear your reaction to what we saw today. Rob, let me start with you, because it really was like these senators who most of whom they don't like they're happy to send you two into war while they sit in these air-conditioned offices but when they get an actual warfighter in front

of them they treat him like he's the gum on the bottom of their shoe yeah megan it's uh crazy my initial reaction was senator blumenthal who I can't believe shows his face in that committee because he lied about Vietnam the entire time. He's been lying about Vietnam since he didn't fight there. And then he finally got busted, had to come out and say, you know, I apologize for misspeaking. There's a huge difference between fighting in Vietnam with real Marines and misspeaking and lying. And so he's up there doing that. We didn't mention that. I love how high and mighty they all get. They're not mentioning Senator Ben Cardin had a staffer who had gay sex in the Judiciary Committee room,

filmed it. No big deal. And then even just as far as I love how how Senator Mullen from Oklahoma said, you know, they come in drunk. I've seen you come in drunk. It's almost like there's some Senate like the Democrats are playing their the cards they play and their, you know, their sentences that they don't their questions they don't want answered. But now all of a sudden you turn the light on and the roaches just scatter. It's I mean, it was it was Pete did a great job. But I think Democrats look horrible. Yeah, here's Dick Blumenthal of Connecticut trying to get trying to get it was a gotcha against Pete on exactly what numbers are in which branches of the military. Watch.

Mr. Hegseth, I'm asking you a very simple question. How many men and women currently serve in the United States Army? Senator, the United States Army, 450,000 on active duty, sir. And how many in the Navy? In the Navy, it's 425, sir. Well, it's 337 this year. How many in the Marine Corps? 175, 175,000, sir. 172,300. Those numbers dwarf any experience you had by many multiples. I don't believe that you can tell this committee

or the people of America that you are qualified to lead them. I would support you as the spokesperson for the Pentagon. So rude, Dakota. What did you make of that? I mean, look, I think that, I mean, I watched the whole thing and it just it blew my mind. First off, that the leaders of the policymakers, lawmakers of this country, that these were the priorities that they were focused on, on someone who is about to go and be in charge of the force that not only maintains and secures the United States national security, but also really is the stabilization of the globe. And these were the questions that they wanted to ask the ha-ha gotcha.

They use these moments right now in this confirmation hearing to sit here and focus on the same thing over and over about just trying to ha-ha gotcha. And the thing when I watch Pete there, it's like, you know, one side of it, I'm sitting back and I'm like, well, say this, you know, from my point, but it's like, he knows the game, right? He's sitting there. He knows that no matter what he says, he's got to get through this and he's got to limit exposure.

Right. And that's the problem with all of this is like, there is no accountability for them sitting up there on that, in that position like there is no accountability for them sitting up there in that position. There's no accountability for the lawmakers. There's no accountability for any of them up there, but they want to turn around. They want to critique this man over and over, which rightfully so. I think we have to sit here and vet and we have to make sure that these people are going to uphold the policies and they're going to support the constitution of the United States. And I, you know, we, we want to hear his views on what he's going to do about, you know, the issues that are

truly, uh, you know, um, threatening the United States of America, but like to sit here and make this out, it just shows you that the priority of the security of the United States of America is not the priority of the left right now. It was pretty remarkable when Pete got there, he had the support of the crowd. In fact, some Democrats were saying they'd never seen the hearing room like this, that they were stunned at the number of people who showed up to support Pete. And when Pete walked in, they started, they broke out in chants of USA. Here's a little bit of that and sought one. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! And one of the most interesting things, Rob, was when they were trying to cross-examine him. A couple did, but Jack Reed, the ranking Dem in particular, on whether he thinks we should follow the Geneva Convention. And Pete was trying to say, look, my criticisms have been,

you've got these people in another land who come up with these rules, but warfighters on the ground get conflicting messages, especially in today's modern military where they're fighting against insurgents, and they need better guidance on exactly what they're allowed to do, what they're not allowed to do. Here's something akin to that exchange in SOT 13. Your definition of lethality seems to embrace those people who do commit law crimes rather than those who stand up and say this is not right. So what's the response to your service members who personally witnessed these and took courageously reported them to their superiors.

Senator, as someone who's led men in combat directly and had to make very difficult decisions, I've thought very deeply about the balance between legality and lethality. Sir, I'm talking about restrictive rules of engagement that these men and women behind me understand they've lived with on the battlefield, which has made it more difficult to defeat our enemies. In many of the cases you're talking about in particular, sir, there was evidence withheld. There was prosecutorial misconduct. And as someone who looks case by case and defaults to the warfighter, to the men and women with dust on their boots, not the second guessers in air

conditioned offices in Washington, D.C. I look case by case and was proud to work with President Trump to understand those cases and ensure that our warriors are always looked out for. Go ahead, Rob. Well, I think that the rules of engagement have a tendency to get way too strict, especially the longer we make a war last. And, you know, the Geneva Convention was one thing, but things change. And then I mean, I've seen everything from NCIS, which, by the way, the worst thing that ever happened is they made a TV show making those guys look cool. They're going to get promoted the more people they can prosecute, play the good guy, then the bad guy. And they get, you know, whatever credit when they put someone in jail. What I've noticed, especially with my unit in Iraq and Afghanistan,

the fewer rules we had, the better we were because we had the latitude and were more precise. And like it or not, we on the ground are the good guys. And the Monday morning quarterbacks that sit in Washington, D.C. and put people in Leavenworth for murder in war. I remember even on the Bin Laden raid, before we even got in the house, one of my friends shot one of the couriers

and then his wife jumped on top and he shot her. He looked at me outside the house. This is outside Bin Laden's house. And he said, I just shot one of the women. She just jumped in front. Am I going to be okay? It's like, stop worrying about that. That should not be in your mind.

And when a Marine is in a gunfight, they should be worried about, well, is some dude in a nice suit that's never been in mud going to prosecute me for this? It's nonsense. And this is the bureaucracy that happens. The further you go, the bigger the government agencies get, and then it turns into the self-licking ice cream cone, personal power. Can I put an American in jail so I can get a Navy Achievement Medal? And that's what Pete's getting at. And the reason there's so much blowback is because what needs to happen is the fat needs to get trimmed.

What needs to happen at the Pentagon is exactly what Elon Musk did at Twitter. Get rid of everybody, almost change the name, and they'd be more efficient. And you're seeing the death throes of dying policies, and that's what these senators were doing today. And Pete nailed it. So, Dakota, you heard there a little suggestion that's where these senators were doing today. And Pete nailed it. So Dakota, he, uh, you heard there that a little suggestion that that's where Blumenthal was going. Like you don't, you can't manage these numbers in the army and the Navy. You're you've never managed anything. It's too big. You've done nothing. It's totally ignoring. As I pointed out before you guys came on, Barack Obama managed absolutely nothing before he became president of

the United States. He was a community organizer. That's it. And then you finally have the last person to question Pete of anybody up there who was the newly elected Republican senator from the great state of Montana. That's Rob O'Neill's home state, Butte, Montana, who gets up there, Sheehy, and starts, who's an actual veteran, and he decides to go a different way with Pete. Watch. How many genders are there? Tough one. Senator, there are two genders. I know that well. I'm a Sheehy, so I'm on board.

What is the diameter of the rifle round fired out of an M4A1 rifle? That's a 5.56. How many push-ups can you do? I did five sets of 47 this morning. What do you think our most important strategic base is in the Pacific? In the Pacific, Guam is pretty strategically significant. And then he went on, Dakota, that continued for another five, well, I mean, maybe three minutes. And Pete knew all those answers. And he was trying to make a point there.

Now, look, I mean, I think that that all of us sitting back and trying to figure out or to decide how Pete's going to, if he, how he's going to do or how he's not going to do, I mean, that's all a hundred percent on Pete's shoulders and we're about to find out, right. I think, you know, questioning Pete about what he said on Fox news. I mean, he was in the, he was in a role of a reporter. Now he's about to go into the role of, you know, the secretary of defense, which all of us should be coming and rallying around and trusting. Look, I'll say up front, like, let me, let me just go ahead and own this up front. Megan is like, in the beginning of this, I was not an advocate for this. I was a hundred percent against it. Right. I was, I was emotionally tied to it.

I, I had a lot of questions and all that. And, and, and, you know, I, I had to get set down and, and, and really spoke by another veteran who's, who's in all of it. But, you know, she looked at me and she said, hey, look, you know, he's going to be carrying out, not his personal views. This isn't about the personal Pete. This is about the person who's going to go out

and carry out what the president of the United States wants him to do and what's on behalf and the best interest of other people. And when it comes down to that, like I 100% believe that we all have got to stand behind and hope and support that, you know, Pete on this, that he's going to go out and do the right thing. I mean, I think Pete's got a huge learning curve, like every single one of us or anybody that steps into that role is going to do. What I can tell you is, is that historically, uh, the, the, the last few people who have been in there, uh, have not,

have not been doing or making a great difference, nor have they been doing what we need to get our military focused on doing. Our military is made, and the focus for our military is two things. Lethality, warfighting, and people. Warfighting and people. That is the business, and that is the only two focuses that that aspect should be focused on. And that's what we've got to get back to. And I trust that Pete's going to do that.

I trust that Pete loves America. I trust that Pete puts America first. I trust that Pete loves troops. And I trust that he is going to be loyal to the president of the United States, the Constitution, and that he's going to carry out the orders that he needs to in the best interest of the United States of America. And that is what I know about Pete Hedgeseth. And that is what I care about right now is that somebody goes up there and look, none of us, none of us have a clean record that, you know, on our worst times, none of us would want to trade Pete's seat and sit up there with all these people trying to go and find the skeletons in our closet. I can tell you, nobody watching this, nobody watching that confirmation hearing today would

have traded seats with Pete if anybody would have knew about a tenth of what people have been going and digging on him for the last couple of months. Right. So I just think that like this hypocrisy of all of us sitting back and throwing rocks at the man in the arena right now is something that is not helpful, nor is it, you know, we all should sit back here and we should hope that and get behind Pete. And we should try to sit here and hope that he goes and that he can handle this job. And if he can't, then we'll see pretty quick. But none of this is on any of us to figure out. It's on Pete Hedgeseth now. And I trust that all of us should come around him and we should sit here and help him become successful. Because if Pete's

successful, the president's successful, the United States of America is successful. And not only that, the globe is successful. So I think that that is the point that we've all got to rally around right now. I love your honesty. I know that you were at best lukewarm on Pete, which is one of the reasons we wanted you to be here. We're not just looking for uniformity and thought. Rob, one of the things or a couple of things that Pete said today, I know are right up your alley. I mean, we've talked about it many times. And one of them, of course, we heard over and over how he wants to get woke out of the military. And that's been a big priority for Trump. But the other one speaks to the total lack of accountability for the people who have lost our wars, who have endangered guys like you, in many cases unnecessarily, without any accountability for it, like the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.

And Pete spoke to that a bit at the end. Take a listen to Sat 17. The wokeness comes not from the uniform ranked, Senator, but from the political class. On day one, on January 20th, when President Trump is sworn in, he will issue a new set of lawful orders. And the leadership of our services will have an opportunity to follow those lawful orders or not. Those lawful orders will not be based on politics.

They will be based on readiness, accountability, standards, and lethality. That is the process by which leaders will be judged. And accountability is coming because everybody in this room knows if you're a rifleman and you lose your rifle, they're throwing the book at you. But if you're a general who loses a war, you get a promotion.

That's not going to happen in Donald Trump's Pentagon. There will be real standards for success. Matt, never heard a message like that from anybody nominated to this post before. Yeah, that was the best quote of the day. I remember when he said that, and that's exactly what he's bringing to it. He's trying to simplify it. He's not trying to spin anything. We're going to fight the war and we're going to win. And accountability is huge. And every veteran back there, there's a lot of special forces, a lot of infantry and Marines behind him.

You could almost hear them agreeing with him because that's what they want is accountability. They want to be able to have alliance solidarity. They want to forward defense and deterrence. They're not worried about the political class like Pete was just saying brilliantly. That's where all this stuff comes from. And you could even hear it spun today. I think it was Mazie Hirono from Hawaii who said something like, it doesn't matter who you love if you fight in a war.

It's like, well, it's not quite that. Pete's saying if you live up to the standards, you can work. And it's not the worry about the LGBTQ stuff. It's the are you going to get an operation that requires you to recover for 18 months and you're not operationally ready? That's all he's saying. But the problem is, a lot of times, especially even dealing with politicians,

you really got to be careful telling the truth because you might just offend stupid people. And that's all that's happening here. But Pete nailed it. And that's right, too. The only person who's been held accountable for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan was a colonel who spoke up. And he didn't even say anything disparaging. He's like, hey. The only person who's been held accountable for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan was a colonel who spoke up.

And he didn't even say anything disparaging. He's like, hey, where's the accountability? Boom, fired. And that's the way they handled it, because you get to a certain level in the military, you stop being military, and you start being political. Because you want to get that job at Raytheon. You want to be a contractor. You want to run for politicians. And I've talked to so many – I've been saying for a long time we need a mid-level officer with experience on the ground yes the pentagon i've talked to so many good officers at the major level lieutenant commander level to get out of the navy get out of the army because they're tired of dealing with the bureaucracy i have a simple plan too if you want to keep it simple the second you stop carrying your own bags you need to get out of the military and that's it so we need a major in there a lieutenant colonel to run the i think it's a perfect choice and you know what if we're wrong we're wrong but we're going to find out peaches military. And that's it. So we need a major in there, a lieutenant colonel to run the, I think it's a perfect choice.

And you know what? If we're wrong, we're wrong, but we're going to find out. Peaches Cruz today, he's going to get nominated. He's going to get the job. Confirmed. It's funny because I realized

sitting there today that everything I know about military ranks, I learned from MASH. Am I alone in that? Am I like, you're like, wait a minute. Wait, it was,

who was above Klinger? And then there was, anyway, Hawkeye. Okay. And I would like to wait a minute. It was who is above Klinger. And then there was anyway, Hawkeye. Okay. And I would like to add on that. Like, you know, you look at my instance, right? Like we do have an officer problem. Like we got a lot of, we've got a lot of great officers.

We have a lot of great officers. I want to say it up front. You know, there are some generals that are by far some of the best human beings that I know that wear the stars on their chest. But what I also want to say is we've got a lot of bad ones too. And I, you know, you look at, you look at my instance, you know, you take Afghanistan, my situation where we've got two investigations, direct loss of life due to leadership. These officers got, they got letters

of reprimand. They got promoted. Then they got out and retired. And then as this other general got out, he ripped up those letters of reprimand and nobody was held accountable. Now, let me tell you this. If I had made the decision and got somebody killed or done the same thing that they had done, I would have been hammered. Anybody enlisted would have made or planned that mission that they could have pinned it on. The enlisted would have been hammered. And so like seeing Pete come in and hopefully recognize that and fixing it i just think that like i i said it a long time ago the the there has got to be some level of accountability the accountability has got to be equal and it can't be this good old boy club that everybody is is overlooking

in the aspect of it like i'm in i'm in let's just hold them accountable like like if you mess up on about the same level that you're gonna hold this private who goes out and and does something wrong or loses their rifle like i just don't understand why a general like you know a general isn't held to the same same standard as you know a a lance corporal and gets in trouble and it's just there just no way that anybody in the military will say that that is not the case. Okay, let's spend a minute on the sort of main lines of attack against him. We covered a couple like you don't have the experience or you haven't managed enough. They or you allegedly beat your wife. Okay, thanks, Tim Kaine. Sure. Great. But then there was the Mark Kelly,

Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. He brought up some of the allegations that we've seen in the anonymous press, the press citing anonymous sources. Here's a little bit of that in SOT16. An event in North Carolina, drunk in front of three young female staff members after you had instituted a no alcohol policy and then reversed it. True or false? Anonymous smears. December of 2014 at the CVA Christmas party at the Grand Hyatt at Washington, D.C., you were noticeably intoxicated and had to be carried up to your room. Is that true or false? Anonymous smears. Another time, a CBA staffer stated that you passed out in the back of a party bus. Is that true or false? Anonymous smears. In 2014,

while in Louisiana on official business for CBA, did you take your staff, including young female staff members, to a strip club? Absolutely not. Anonymous smears. Okay. I'll just say, the audience has heard me talk about this kind of thing before. That wasn't great by Pete because choose one or the other.

Either you're going to say no, no, no, no, or you're going to say anonymous smears the whole time. But to jump in with absolutely not on just the one is sort of an admission. It sounds like an admission to all the others. Right. Like, I mean, I don't think it was an admission. I'm just saying. So anyway, what did you make of it, Rob? Was it effective? Well, yeah, I mean, well, because when he's when he's talking to Senator Kelly, who, by the way, is just ramping up for a run in 2028, that's all he's doing. But at one point he was saying it's anonymous and he, all he said was,

well, they're not anonymous with no proof. Like, Oh, well then show who's the, who is it? Well, they are.

But I think, I think that the beat your wife thing was so egregious that Pete had to say, absolutely not because that's just ridiculous. I mean, it's to the point where, well, if you did, no,

he said, absolutely not on, did you go to a strip club? But by the way, it's already all over the press by people who actually did go to the strip club that Pete wasn't there. Like that's already actually been out there. That didn't make it in anybody's questioning that a third party independent witness has said I was there and he was not there. Well, he was saying it was addressed and he wasn't there.

If he wasn't there, that's not really on him, I don't think. I don't think the chain of command in the civilian sector works like it does in the military. It would be probably on the XO or the CO if a bunch of his guys went to the bar on a weekend on a trip and then got in trouble. That would be on them. But I don't think it is there. But, Rob, don't you think this is where all the anonymous press allegations did their job, right? They made their way into the hands of a U.S. senator who then got to list them off like they were all real and verified. And, you know, it's like just the assumption that

he was guilty of them all was built in, which is why I think anonymous smears was actually a good answer for all of them. And he probably just should have stuck with that straight through strippers or no strippers. OK, I mean, you put it that way. Yes, I agree with you. I was just thinking it was the, the, the, the strip club or the beating your wife thing. He's going to answer it that way because I mean, you got to consider with all this stuff being thrown at him, he really handled his emotions very, very well. This is one of the major reasons I'm not running for office or trying to get confirmed into anything, but he, he handled it like a pro and he did get a little upset, but I mean, he, he did a really good. Knowing the Democrats, he did such a good job today, and the Democrats were so bad.

I think it's going to make the next confirmation hearings go a lot smoother because they're going to shoot their shot like they always do. We've seen in landslide elections where the American public wants it. Even the media is taking a knee to what's going to happen. This is, you know, what, they've got six days left? They're just doing what they can, and then they're gearing up for the next election, which is what politicians do. The other big thing was women in the military. I mean, they just beat that horse until it was absolutely dead and dead again. Today, he made so clear that what he's been talking about is like, yes, women can serve in combat if they can meet the standards.

It's like what I've been saying all week on the firefighters out in L.A. and what most normal Americans feel. They can serve if they can do the job. Although I have to say, you know, there are other arguments for women not serving in combat, like the distraction of it. Like, I actually, I don't know how Pete truly feels, but I think I might be further to the right than he is on it. But, Dakota, do you think that that's going to be an ongoing issue because all the women up there seem to be, you know, indignant about that. Pete would ever say that there's a question about whether women should be serving certain combat roles. Look, I think that I mean, look, I think it doesn't matter what Pete said today. I don't think I don't think it was going to matter. I don't think if he had said one way

or the other, I don't think any of it really mattered. Like it was just all about it was all about them getting their talking points out and their show out. So, I mean, the women in combat thing, like me and Pete, I told Pete on the phone that I, you know, my, what he, what he is, I think he clarified today for me, he clarified today initially what I'd heard like small snippets, right. Of, you know, which talking points or whatever has been spun out is, you know, no women in combat or I don know no women in combat

or i don't support women in combat right but what you heard him today is clarify is like no look i think i add an opportunity but like the standard has got to be the standard we cannot change up the physical demands you can't sit here and you can't mitigate you can't overlook those nor can you tailor those uh the physical demands that boots on the ground roles are going to require and it's not it's not gender-based it is it is the job based and so i think when he clarified that up today i 100 agree with that aspect of it right i i you know i 100 agree with that because to be honest with you megan like i have seen women that could outperform the some of the men that go to combat next to me. Right. And so when it comes to that aspect of it, I have watched, I have watched women who deserve to be in combat more than some of the guys that I've been in gunfights with and that

I'd rather take them anyways. Right. So I just don't, I don't get wrapped up into that aspect of it. Like meet the standard, like go meet the standard. Can you lead people? Can you meet the standard? Can you go out and perform and can you be professional about it? Right.

Because that is, that is what it's about. And I think that that's what Pete portrayed today. I'm so glad he got to clarify that. And he got to, to, to, to, you know, to really elaborate on some of his prior statements or, or what was spun or whatever. Right. But I just think that like, I don't think anything that he met, like what he said today was not changing any of their minds. It was all about, I think you're right. I think you're right. He's not going to get a single Dem vote from the look of it. Last question.

How many pushups did you guys do this morning? Dakota, I'll defer to you first. Cause I think I outrank you. Well, I worked out with, uh, I worked with Lance Armstrong this morning. So I don't know. I think we, we did, I think we did have push-ups in the workout, but I can't remember. Nice. Go ahead, Rob. I had leg day because I'm still moving out of my house.

A lot of furniture to carry. Okay. Well, I think it's unanimous. I did zero, too. You guys, it's awesome to see you. Thank you, as always, for being here. Thank you for your service. God bless.

And to be continued once he gets confirmed. Thank you, Megan. Awesome. see you. Thank you, as always, for being here. Thank you for your service. God bless. And to be continued once he gets confirmed. Thank you, Megan. Awesome. Thank you. All the best, guys. Wow. Okay. Great show.

We got to go. I got to get on my route back to, where do I live again? Up in Connecticut. And thank you so much for being with us and for bearing with us as we drop the show a little late today, given where I was all morning. We are back tomorrow with VDH. See you then. Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.