On today’s show: There is mounting concern about Pete Hegseth’s nomination for secretary of defense after the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer dropped more bombshell allegations about the former Fox News host. Here’s everything we know. Karen DeYoung with the Washington Post explains why the U.S. is closely watching South Korea’s political chaos. And one country’s sweeping plan to stop kids from using social media — will it work? Plus, the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, the final outstanding House race is called for Democrats, and a tool to get rid of the jingle you can’t stop humming. Today’s episode was hosted by Gideon Resnick.
Chapter 1: What allegations are being made against Pete Hegseth?
But first, Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday amid a storm of controversy. A number of damaging stories have emerged since he was selected for the role, leading to concerns from some Republican senators and questions about his future.
Trump's team has publicly defended him, and Hegseth said that Trump told him that he had his support. Let's recap how we got to this moment. The first allegation came from a woman who said Hegseth sexually assaulted her in a hotel in Monterey, California, seven years ago.
She said she doesn't remember much, but remembers saying no, and alleges that Hegseth prevented her from leaving his hotel room. That's all according to a police report that was filed at the time. Hegseth was never charged, but he did pay the woman a settlement and maintains it was consensual. Yesterday, he was asked about the incident on The Megyn Kelly Show.
Chapter 2: How did Pete Hegseth respond to his allegations?
Did you rape a woman in a hotel in Monterey? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I've been honest about that encounter, starting with law enforcement, from the beginning. I may have been drinking, but I was cognizant enough to remember every single detail. And I'm not... here to say that my conduct was good. Being in a hotel room with someone that's not the person you're with is not okay.
I own up to that. Another allegation of bad behavior came from his mother. Last Friday, the New York Times reported that Hegseth's mother had sent her son an email in 2018 accusing him of mistreating women. At the time, Hegseth was going through a divorce. His mom's email reads, quote, I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, and sleeps around.
Yesterday, she appeared on Fox News to clear up those comments.
Chapter 3: What did Jane Mayer report about Hegseth's past behavior?
I want people to look at Pete and judge people or understand him for who he is today. Pete is a new person. He's redeemed, forgiven, changed. I think we all are after seven years.
Then, this week, Jane Mayer, chief Washington correspondent for The New Yorker, reported that Hegseth was forced out of previous leadership positions for, quote, financial mismanagement, sexist behavior, and being repeatedly intoxicated on the job. The allegations are based on a whistleblower report and other internal emails. Here's Mayer on CNN.
I mean, the behavior described by the people that he worked with really was the kind of behavior that would get anybody fired in almost any office in America. Near constant allegations of drunkenness, him being blackout drunk, having to be carried to his hotel room.
Mayer also described one incident that took a dark turn.
Chapter 4: What are the implications of Hegseth's nomination for Secretary of Defense?
people that he worked with who sent it to the management saying he was really horrified by what he described as the quote-unquote despicable behavior, which was Pete Hegseth closing down a bar at 2.30 in the morning in Ohio, chanting, kill all Muslims, kill all Muslims, which again, of course, is concerning for someone who might run the Pentagon.
Mayer's reporting also found that Hegseth had run up massive debt while he was the head of the organization Veterans for Freedom, to the point where he was unable to pay its bills. A lawyer for Hegseth called the allegations outlandish and attributed them to, quote, a petty and jealous disgruntled former associate of Hegseth's.
Since all of this, Hegseth has been meeting with senators to try to shore up support. He's told at least one that he wouldn't drink if he were confirmed for the role. But there are mounting concerns. Here's Senator Lindsey Graham on CBS News earlier this week.
Some of these articles are very disturbing. He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of this stuff is going to be difficult.
But other Republicans are standing firmly behind Hegseth, like Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville.
We need a drill sergeant in the military. We need somebody to straighten the military out to get the WOKE, the DEI affiliation out and go from there.
And you don't have any concerns about the allegations against him in the New Yorker?
No, I've looked at all the personal stuff. And again, I've known him for a long time. And I would, there's not going to be anything to this at the end of the day.
Republicans will have a 53-47 majority in the Senate next year, which means Hegseth can afford to lose no more than three Republican senators to be confirmed. The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump is already considering backup options, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Let's turn now to the political turmoil that's erupted this week in South Korea.
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Chapter 5: What is the current political situation in South Korea?
It's caused a lot of confusion in South Korea where no one can understand what seemed to be a sort of doomed effort from the start was undertaken.
That's Karen DeYoung, a senior national security correspondent at The Washington Post. She says the events also took the U.S. by surprise.
And it's also caused a lot of consternation in the United States, which considers South Korea a sort of model democracy in East Asia and has a number of agreements on the security front with South Korea.
South Korea is one of America's closest allies. In fact, one of President Biden's signature foreign policy achievements is engaging the United States in a security pact with South Korea and Japan in the face of mounting threats from Russia, China and North Korea.
It provides for joint exercises, intelligence sharing, high-level consultations, and basically security cooperation. And it's part of turning toward China as what the Pentagon calls the pacing threat of American securities.
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Chapter 6: How does the U.S. view the political crisis in South Korea?
On Tuesday, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kirk Campbell told reporters that the U.S. was watching the unfolding events with, quote, grave concern. Now South Korean lawmakers say they'll hold a vote to impeach President Yoon on Saturday. At the same time, American leadership is on the cusp of changing as well.
If there were a government that is not quite as friendly to the United States as the Yoon government is now, I think that would be a challenge for the incoming president. President-elect Trump has congratulated himself on his relationship with North Korea during his first term and has indicated he would try to follow up on that.
Thank you.
There are growing efforts across the world to limit how much time young people spend on their phones. Recently, Australia approved a new law that would ban kids from accessing social media platforms until they're 16 years old. It's expected to go into effect in a year.
And there are not a lot of details about how the ban would be enforced, but social media companies could face fines of up to $32 million if they don't comply. Meanwhile, in Spain, lawmakers there are considering a recommendation that smartphones carry warning labels. And here in the United States, our Surgeon General has recommended something similar for social media platforms.
At the same time, lots of states and locales are starting to take matters into their own hands. Multiple school districts, including in Los Angeles, are banning phone use at school. And next year, children in Florida who are under 14 will not be permitted to have social media accounts.
I mean, we've seen a number of things over the last year that have been, in my opinion, heading in the right direction and some things that don't seem very well conceived.
That's Mitch Prinstein, chief science officer at the American Psychological Association, who spoke to us a few months back for an episode of Apple News In Conversation.
I think shutting off social media to everyone and anyone below a certain age doesn't make a lot of sense and it doesn't fit the science. That's because he says kids' brains develop at such different rates. It's also concerning that if you shut everything off till 16, come on, we are all adolescents. You know exactly what that's going to do.
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