‘Not serious’: Lawmaker blasts Hegseth for installing Pentagon makeup studio for TV spots
Hamza Adam 
A Massachusetts lawmaker slammed President Donald Trump’s secretary of Defense on Wednesday afternoon as unserious following revelations he turned a room in the Pentagon into a makeup studio for TV spots.
Pete Hegseth ordered a makeup studio to be installed in the building, converting a green room next to the press briefing room into a space equipped for TV appearances. The Pentagon downplayed the report, calling it routine, though it comes amid broad slashes to government agencies.
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) joined Jake Tapper on CNN’s “The Lead” to tear into Hegseth.
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“I think they understand that when an individual comes into that office, talks about returning the Pentagon to the warfighters, then spends three months installing a makeup studio inside the Pentagon so he can do Fox News hits is not an individual who is serious about improving morale or readiness within the Department of Defense,” said Auchincloss.
What’s more, someone who does that won’t be “taken seriously” by the likes of America’s adversaries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping or the ayatollah, he said.
“Our enemies are looking across the negotiating table, at him, at [Director of National Intelligence] Tulsi Gabbard, and they think we’re sending the junior varsity squad. It’s making Americans less safe,” he said.
Auchincloss said he blames Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and other Senate Republicans for the chaos in the Pentagon.
“John Thune and other Senate Republicans know that he is manifestly unfit and unqualified for this job,” said Auchincloss. “They confirmed him and abdicated their Article I responsibility because they didn’t want to upset the Dear Leader.”