MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow mocked former Fox News host and now U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for using $40 million worth of taxpayer money in just one month to fund a migrant detainment facility in Guantánamo Bay that has since been shut down.
“The [New York] Times reporting tonight that Hegseth’s failed gambit to stand-up a U.S. military role at Guantánamo, specifically to make it look like Guantánamo has something to do with [Donald] Trump’s deportations. That gambit has thus far cost taxpayers about $40 million in its first month,” Maddow said Monday as she outlined the TV personality-to-politician’s recent actions as defense secretary, also mentioning how Hegseth ordered two Navy destroyers to “hover around the U.S. border doing nothing.”
“Now, this whole Guantánamo thing is a plan that has essentially been scrapped now, but only after Pete Hegseth moved nearly a thousand U.S. troops there and then back and had them sent up a tent city and then kind of dismantled it, because these guys — don’t forget — government efficiency, can’t allow old people to call the social security office anymore,” “The Rachel Maddow Show” host said sarcastically, referring to the Elon Musk-ran Department of Government Efficiency’s decision to downsize Social Security Administration with office closures and phone services.
“But hey, we gotta save money. Pete Hegseth needs to fuel up the C-17s to fly, like, five guys around so they can make TikTok vides about how tough they are. ‘See my tattoos?’” Maddow mocks.
In addition to slamming Hegseth over his controversial decisions, Maddow also called him out for casually bringing his wife Jennifer Rauchet and younger brother Phil Hegseth into his everyday and very private government duties.
Alongside him, Rauchet attended two meetings with foreign military counterparts where “sensitive information was discussed,” per The Wall Street Journal.
“Does she have a security clearance? This is the same wife, you may recall, who Mr. Hegseth brought with him to his meeting with U.S. senators ahead of his confirmation process for this job,” Maddow said. “That, of course, made it socially awkward for those senators to ask him at those meetings about the rape allegations that he faced in California and his alleged serial infidelity and problems with drinking on the job. He has denied the rape allegations in California, and of course he was never charged in conjunction with those allegations.”
She then moved on to his baby brother, whom she joked is completely qualified to participate in Hegseth’s responsibilities. Phil has been given key role as liaison and senior advisor in the Pentagon. He also joined Hegseth on his trips to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Hawaii.
“What is his little brother doing there? Good question. His past career experience includes starting a podcast, production company,” Maddow shaded. “So, naturally it makes sense that he is paid by the U.S. taxpayers to go everywhere with his brother, the defense secretary, who has assured us that he definitely won’t drink on the job anymore, and who apparently thinks it’s OK to bring his wife to NATO meetings.”
You can watch the full “The Rachel Maddow Show” segment in the video above.
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