National political reporter Neil W. McCabe applauded president-elect Donald Trump’s nominations of combat veteran Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and U.S. Representative Matt Gatez (R-FL-01) as Attorney General, explaining how the men are expected to bring about a new atmosphere in their respective roles.
Hegseth served as an Infantry Officer in the Army National Guard, serving in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay. He holds two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge for his time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As secretary of defense, Hegseth will oversee the Defense Department and act as the principal defense policymaker and adviser.
McCabe said Hegseth’s nomination is especially notable considering the Army veteran would be the first Secretary of Defense to have seen combat since former Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, who served under President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973.
“This is an incredible gap of more than 50 years since you’ve had a secretary of defense who was actually sending lead downrange and having lead sent back at him. That is a very unique and important distinction,” McCabe said on Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
With regard to Gaetz’s nomination to serve as Attorney General, McCabe said the Florida congressman is “not the monster that he’s being portrayed as” and would succeed in the role as he has personally experienced being a target of probes meant to “take him down.”
“[Gaetz] is a very smart guy. He’s very gregarious. He’s very open minded. He’s like a lot of people. He’s not the monster that he’s being portrayed as and he’s another guy who they have basically used every tool in the tool bag to take down,” McCabe said.
“His law degree is from William & Mary Law School. He was brilliant as a state legislator in Florida…He was very effective and as attorney general, he will be exceedingly effective. He is exceedingly prepared, he is very intelligent, and he doesn’t accept being blown off,” McCabe added.
As attorney general, Gaetz will oversee the Department of Justice, represent the United States in litigation, and advise the president on all legal matters.
McCabe said he believes the incoming Trump administration will be successful overall in implementing Trump’s agenda and “spin like a top” as the president-elect had four years to think about how his second term could be better than his first.
“Trump has had four years to contemplate, to think about what went wrong, to think about what he’ll do better. Also in those four years, he’s seen who his friends are and who his enemies are,” McCabe explained.
“He saw how the justice department could be used. He saw how the intelligence agencies could be used. These guys used every possible tool in their tool bag to take down Trump. He smoked them all out. Whereas if Trump was reelected in 2020, we would have no idea what they were capable of, what they were willing to do. Now we’ve seen the depths of their evil, and now we know. They’ve been exposed,” McCabe added.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
