Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, want to see the FBI's full report on President-elect Donald Trump's Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth, which shows "they don't trust the FBI, which is fine," says retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel Tony Shaffer.
"We don't trust the FBI. This was something that I would have not gone to the FBI to do," Shaffer told Newsmax's "The Chris Salcedo Show."
"By the way, he's going to be working for [the Department of Defense]... DOD can investigate as well as anyone else, and that's probably what they should have done."
But Murkowski and Collins are "looking for anything they can use here which could be politicized," he told Newsmax.
"This is not about clearing someone. This is about finding something that will be a tool they can use as a political weapon. That's all this is. … I know Pete. Look, he's not perfect. None of us are perfect. But I'm certain that he has passed with flying colors, the checks that they've done. But that doesn't matter. It's all about political theater. We're about to see a kickoff tomorrow morning at about 9:30."
Collins is seen as more likely than most of her Republican Senate colleagues to vote against some of Trump's Cabinet picks. She and Murkowski, a fellow moderate Republican, did not shy from opposing Trump in his first term when they wanted to do so and sometimes supported President Joe Biden's nominees for the judicial and executive branches.
Hegseth, an infantry combat veteran and former "Fox & Friends" weekend host, is working to gain as many votes as he can as some senators have expressed concerns about his personal history and lack of management experience.
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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