Jimmy Kimmel Buries Pete Hegseth With His Own Words About Classified Leaks
“Very well said,” Kimmel replied to an old clip of Hegseth.
Jimmy Kimmel has found one clear winner in this week’s news cycle: Hillary Clinton, whose 2016 presidential campaign was plagued with controversy around her use of a private email server while heading up the State Department.
In his monologue Tuesday, Kimmel pointed out that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who had unwittingly texted secret war plans to a journalist, had been Clinton’s biggest critic back in 2016.
Kimmel showed a 2016 Fox News clip of Hegseth declaring, “If it was anyone other than Hillary Clinton, they would be in jail right now for what has been done.”
In the clip, Hegseth argued further, “The assumption is, in the intelligence community, if you are using unclassified means, there is the potential for, and likelihood, that foreign governments are targeting those accounts and gathering intelligence from them.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“Very well said,” Kimmel replied. “Case closed.”
Get the best of The Beast delivered right to your inbox
By clicking “SUBSCRIBE” you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
He added, “I bet Hillary is walking around the woods laughing her ass off today. ‘Lock ‘em up!‘”
In response to the security scandal on Monday evening, Hillary Clinton posted on X, “You have got to be kidding me,” with a side-eye emoji.
Continuing his coverage of the group chat scandal, Kimmel explained, “It just so happened that the Senate Intelligence Committee had a hearing scheduled for today, which meant the Democrats got to grill several of the individuals who were on the chat.”
He joked, “It was like having to take a road trip with your mom the day after she caught you masturbating.”
Kimmel also made fun of Donald Trump for refusing to fire anyone for the leak.
“What happened to this guy?” Kimmel asked. “He fired Meatloaf for less than this.”
Kimmel joked, “Firing used to be his favorite thing. It’s kind of sad. He’s like an old dog that doesn’t chase the ball anymore.”
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.


