Hunter on republicans who have recently backed off their support of Trump after he criticized the Khan family

(HUNTER) Number one, I don't think a lot of my colleagues and a lot of these republican pundits red the transcript or watched the actual video. What they did was take the scroll headline off the news and went with their story off of that, that's number one. Number two, I think a few of my colleagues, guys in congress were looking for an excuse to not support Trump. If they could side in with the media's slant on the big Khan thing and that's what they did. One of my good friends, Adam Kinzinger, came out two days later on a news channel and said he is not going to support Trump, he is not going to vote for him over this issue. Those guys were probably looking for a way out and this gave them a way out. I don't think they even read the transcript.

Hunter on the need for Trump to personally engage with his supporters in congress.

(Hegseth) It's said you have stopped going to weekly meetings with Trump officials as the co-chairman on Capitol Hill, is that happening? Are you disappointed in some of the engagement on Capitol Hill? Do you feel Trump could engage better with surrogates to defend him in these controversial moments? . Do you feel like you could be getting better support?

(HUNTER) Yeah, he could reach out better to us, absolutely. They give us talking points which I don't read but in the beginning Trump should have come to congress and said hey, if you guys support me let me talk to you but he still hasn't done that. He still hasn't come to congress to talk to his supporters but that's ok. We aren't just here for Trump, we are here for the nation and that's why I support him, for the country, not for him personally, I don't know him, we aren't friends, I have met him a few times but it's for the nation, that's why we support him. And frankly, I don't care what he says when it comes to personal attacks on people and these little fights, this is for the nation.