Jake Tapper thinks Republicans are trying to have it both ways.
The CNN host laid into House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday, asking the Louisiana Republican if the GOP can claim to have any morals if they confirm some of Donald Trump’s more controversial Cabinet nominees.
“Your colleagues…have real issues with Matt Gaetz as somebody to lead the U.S. Justice Department,” he began.
Tapper focused on Gaetz, Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the segment. Gaetz has long had the stink of sexual misconduct allegations on him, though he’s never been charged with any crime. Similarly, the Fox News host Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017 and reportedly paid off his accuser. RFK Jr. famously said he has “so many skeletons” in his closet and was one half of an alleged affair with former New York magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi.
The scandals in the potential Cabinet were a bridge too far for Tapper, who grilled Johnson on the nominations during an episode of CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“You’re a man of faith, you’re a man of God, you’re a man of family. With some of these nominees, Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr., I wonder — does it matter anymore for Republicans to think of leaders as people who are moral in their personal lives?” he asked. “Is that still important to the Republican Party?”
“They are persons who will shake up the status quo. And I think what the American people have believed and what they’ve delivered with the mandate in this election is a demand that we shake up the status quo. It’s not working for the American people,” Johnson replied. “They will go into the agencies that they’re being asked to lead, and they will reform them. These agencies need reform.”
Watch the entire chat below:
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