Fox News contributor Leslie Marshall made an impassioned case against President-Elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth on Sunday’s MediaBuzz.

Hegseth has been under intense scrutiny since allegations arose claiming he sexually assaulted a woman at a conference some seven years ago.

Fox’s Howard Kurtz cited reporting by Mediaite’s Diana Falzone and Aidan McLaughlin when explaining the allegations against Hegseth, who most recently co-hosted Fox & Friends Weekend.

“Mediaite obtained this police report from California authorities from back in 2017, and says Hegseth, Pete, very drunk, he got into a fight with Jane Doe, that’s how she’s being referred to. That she repeatedly said, ‘No,’ and a rape kit confirmed the sexual encounter. Again, Pete Hegseth says this was consensual.”

Marshall took a deep breath before stating, “I dreaded talking about this today. I met Pete a long time ago. We spent, middle of the night, waiting to go on during 2016, before the election, and I like him as a person.” She went on to cite the Uniform Code of Military Justice:

With all due respect to my former colleague, we know that there were three cases of adultery for Pete Hegseth, and it is relevant. And the reason why it’s relevant is, Article 134 of the UCMJ considers adultery against the military, which the Department of Defense is part of. You can’t lead an entire organization and all these people if you can’t lead by example, one.

Two, I am a rape victim, and I can tell you there’s a reason one in 10 rapes go unreported, and it’s very difficult for a woman to go in and have a rape kit done. It’s physically, mentally, and emotionally very difficult to go through that process, as I have. And I can tell you, that just very personal, in my deep core…Somebody doesn’t go into the hospital and subject herself to that. And I have to say, I, as a woman and as a victim, I believe the victims, and this is a problem for me. And then on top of that, although Pete has an incredible military career, he doesn’t have the leadership career in the military that I feel the Department of Defense requires as their head.

Kurtz then discussed Hegseth’s qualifications to manage the “massive Pentagon bureaucracy,” before thanking Marshall for sharing her story.

“I appreciate your candor in describing your own personal experience that obviously was very moving, and gives us a different perspective,” Kurtz said.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

The post ‘I Dreaded Talking About This’: Fox News Contributor Makes Impassioned Case Against Pete Hegseth By Citing Her Own Experience as a Rape Victim first appeared on Mediaite.

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