GOP senator stops CNN anchor in her tracks to give audience the truth about Pete Hegseth allegations: 'You told one part'
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) refused to let CNN tell only one side of the story.
Last week, California police released a report accusing Pete Hegseth, the nominee for defense secretary, of sexual assault in 2017. Despite the suspicious timing of the report's release and its salacious details, Hegseth was never charged with any crimes because, as the report seems to indicate, there was not sufficient evidence to prove the allegations.
'He wasn't charged. He wasn't even kind of charged in this. There was no crime committed.'
And yet, CNN anchor Dana Bash tried to use the report on Sunday to smear Hegseth.
Asking Mullin about the report, Bash — instead of framing the discussion around the lack of evidence and no criminal charges — centered the woman's allegations and claims against Hegseth.
Mullin immediately shut her down.
"Dana, if we're going to get into that, let's talk about the whole police report," he interjected.
"First of all, the police report, if you look at it, it's very clear that what Pete was saying, what his attorney was saying, was accurate," Mullin said. "There was no case here. He was falsely accused."
According to Mullin, the police report fortifies Hegseth's innocence because it says that multiple eyewitnesses identified the woman who accused Hegseth of assault as the "aggressor."
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After Mullin told CNN's audience what the police report says, Bash tried defending herself. She said she "wasn't done" and was, eventually, going to explain why Hegseth was never charged with a crime.
But Mullin wasn't buying it.
"I'm just saying that you told one part of this, Dana — that isn't accurate," he said.
Surprisingly, Bash thanked Mullin for "giving that other side [of the story] for me." Still, she questioned how Mullin could believe Hegseth's story but not the accuser's.
"He wasn't charged. He wasn't even kind of charged in this. There was no crime committed," Mullin fired back. "The police dropped everything."
"What is unfortunate, in today's world, you can be accused of anything, and then especially if it's something like this, you're automatically assumed to be guilty," he added. "If you read the police report from cover to cover, which I have, and I know every reporter has, too, it is clear there was nothing there. There was clear (sic) that there was no crime committed."
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