Politics

Hagel Last Week: ‘I Don’t Get Up In The Morning Worried About My Job’ [VIDEO]

Alex Griswold Media Reporter
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In a CBS “This Morning” interview five days before Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel tendered his resignation, Hagel told host Charlie Rose that he wasn’t worried about his job, and thought he had President Obama’s full confidence. (RELATED: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Resigns ‘Under Pressure’)

ROSE: Then there are these stories, that the president wants to change his national security team. He’s looking at his last two years. Maybe he wants to change his national security advisor, maybe he wants to change his Secretary of Defense. Maybe he wants to change other elements. Is that true?

HAGEL: Well, you’d have to ask the president, but …

ROSE: Do you concern yourself with it?

HAGEL: No. First of all, I serve at the pleasure of the president. I am immensely grateful for the opportunities I’ve had in the last two years to work every day for the country and for the men and women who serve this country. I don’t get up in the morning worried about my job. It’s not unusual, by the way, to change teams at different times.

ROSE: So you would expect him to change?

HAGEL: I didn’t say that. I didn’t say I expect him to change. What I’m saying is it wouldn’t be unusual to do that, first of all, historically. Second, I’ve got to stay focused on my job. And I do. And I am very fortunate that I have some of the best people in the world to work with. And whatever the president decides, he’s the president, he makes those decisions.

ROSE: Do you — are you convinced you have the confidence of the president?

HAGEL: Well, I don’t think I’d be here if I didn’t. You’d have to ask him that. I mean, I see him all the time.

ROSE: He would tell you if he didn’t?

HAGEL: I would think so, yes.

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