WASHINGTON ― President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense said Tuesday that all the reports of his excessive drinking were false.
Pete Hegseth also said at his confirmation hearing that he wouldn’t drink another drop if he’s confirmed by the Senate to lead the U.S. military.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) first confronted Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army veteran, about allegations he had a drinking problem.
“I have read multiple reports of your regularly being drunk at work, including by people who worked with you at Fox News,” Hirono said.
“Senator, those are multiple false anonymous reports peddled by NBC News that run directly contradictory to the dozens of men and women at Fox News Channel who I worked with and said they never saw that,” Hegseth said.
NBC News reported in December that seven former and three current Fox News employees said Hegseth’s drinking concerned them, with some saying he showed up to the studio hungover ahead of his early morning TV duties.
Contrary to Hegseth, it wasn’t just NBC News and anonymous sources talking about his drinking ― Hegseth himself has repeatedly discussed his affinity for alcohol.
“The less booze thing is not working out for me,” Hegseth said on a podcast in January 2024, as part of a conversation about New Year’s resolutions, in one example the New York Times highlighted Tuesday as part of a pattern of public comments Hegseth has made about his own partying.
Hirono noted that Hegseth recently told several Republican senators that he wouldn’t drink if confirmed, a vow he also made in an interview with Megyn Kelly.
“Absolutely,” Hegseth said Tuesday. “I made this commitment on behalf of the men and women I’m serving.”
Hirono asked Hegseth if he would resign as Secretary of Defense if he wound up drinking again, but he didn’t commit to doing so.
Later during the hearing, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) also grilled Hegseth about his drinking, noting that a whistleblower report from Hegseth’s tenure as CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit group, detailed excessive drinking and even an instance of Hegseth’s co-workers having to physically restrain him. (The internal report was revealed by the New Yorker.)
“Those are all anonymous, false claims,” Hegseth said.
“They’re not anonymous. We’ve seen records with names attached,” Kaine said. “One of your colleagues said that you got drunk at an event at a bar and chanted ‘Kill all Muslims.’ Another colleague ― not anonymous, we have this ― said that you took co-workers to a strip club, you were drunk, you tried to dance with strippers, you had to be held offstage.”
Kaine asked if the allegation would be disqualifying if it were true.
“Senator, anonymous, false charges,” Hegseth said.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) defended Hegseth by arguing that senators, too, are sometimes drunk on the job.
“How many senators have shown up drunk to vote at night?” Mullin said. “We’ve all made mistakes.”