By Pete Hegseth’s account, his heavy drinking began after a brush with death when an RPG ricocheted off his vehicle but didn’t explode while serving in Iraq with an Army infantry unit. When he returned home to a Manhattan apartment after the deployment ended in 2006, disconnected from the people he served with while his wife at the time worked long hours, he turned to alcohol, he said.
“I’d look around at 10 o’clock and be like, ‘What am I going to do today? How about I drink some beers? How about I go have some lunch and have some beers? How about I meet my one or two buddies and have some beers?’” Hegseth recounted in an August 2021 appearance on “The Will Cain Show” podcast. “And one beer leads to many, leads to self-medication, leads to ‘I’ve earned this.’ Like, ‘Don’t tell me I can’t.’”
A selection that hangs in the balance
Allegations of excessive drinking have shadowed Hegseth’s career in the years since as he’s risen from running a veterans nonprofit to becoming a star Fox News host and now President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head the Defense Department – a selection that hangs in the balance on the Hill as some senators question his relationship with alcohol.
In 2017 at a Republican conference in California, Hegseth was so “visibly intoxicated” that it enabled a woman to be the “aggressor” in having sexual relations with him, according to a statement from Tim Parlatore, his attorney – an encounter that the woman later described as a rape to police. Hegseth disputes that claim, saying the encounter was consensual, and prosecutors declined to file charges.
At Fox News, Hegseth had a reputation as a heavy drinker, according to six former Fox News employees who worked directly with Hegseth and saw him drinking on the job or visibly drunk at work events and who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
Several years ago, during a St. Patrick’s Day segment on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” support staff at the cable news network set up a display of beers for a holiday segment on the show. After the segment aired, Hegseth walked by the display table and drank each beer, according to two former colleagues who witnessed the incident and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive episode. The incident struck the colleagues as jarring for two reasons: One, the displayed drinks had been sitting out for hours and were stale and warm; two, the show wraps up at 10 a.m., an early hour for alcohol consumption.
Numerous other Fox News employees, including Cain, have disputed that Hegseth drank excessively at the network, noting that no one at Fox has stepped forward with similar accounts on the record. A Fox News spokesperson could not corroborate the details of the St. Patrick’s Day incident. Fox declined to comment. Parlatore, asked by The Post to address the St. Patrick’s Day incident, responded: “These claims about alcohol while on the set at Fox & Friends are completely false. And the sheer number of Fox News employees who have come out over the past 24 hours on the record with their names to debunk these claims vastly outweighs the unverifiable anonymous claims that have been reported. So there’s absolutely nothing to that.”
And at Concerned Veterans of America, a nonprofit that Hegseth ran until leaving in January 2016, some former colleagues said they often saw him drinking heavily, according to a report by the New Yorker, which cited a colleague’s email that said Hegseth had “a history of alcohol abuse.” Several former colleagues from that group told The Washington Post they had witnessed excessive drinking on numerous occasions, while others said they did not.
A review of Hegseth’s writings and interviews by The Post shows that he has been blunt about what he called his use of alcohol. Writing in his 2016 book, “In the Arena,” he said that he once “zealously” sought to “avoid all forms of sin – especially sex, alcohol and cursing. But he said he “fell short,” even as he was “often insufferable (hypocritical) about it.”
‘Barely trust someone who doesn’t enjoy a few drinks’
“For those who knew only the pious caricature I had carefully crafted, this manufactured facade of goodness” was misleading, Hegseth wrote. In fact, “I barely trust someone who doesn’t enjoy a few drinks and won’t drop a well-placed f-bomb.”
Hegseth has said that his faith helped him, saying on the Will Cain podcast that “Only by the grace of God was I able to slowly but surely undo that cycle.”
But Hegseth now disputes that he ever struggled with his drinking habits.
“First of all, I’ve never had a drinking problem,” Hegseth said Wednesday in an interview on “The Megyn Kelly Show.”
“No one’s ever approached me and said, ‘You should really look at getting help for drinking.’ Never,” he said. He added that he has never sought counseling or other professional help for drinking, “but I respect and appreciate people who do.”
Hegseth added that the “two J’s” – Jesus Christ and his current wife, Jennifer – helped pull him out of his issues. Without them, he said, “I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.” Hegseth added he views the job of defense secretary in similar fashion to being deployed and would not drink if confirmed.
‘Biggest deployment of my life’
“This is the biggest deployment of my life, and there won’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I’m doing it,” he said in his interview with Kelly on Wednesday.
Ongoing questions about the extent of his drinking highlights an issue that has historically been relevant in the nomination of defense secretary, including a 1989 Senate vote to reject John Tower for the job amid allegations of drinking and womanizing.
“We absolutely cannot have a secretary of defense that gets drunk on a regular basis,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said on Tuesday, as Hegseth met with Republicans on the Hill and sought to calm concerns about his viability as a nominee. “I got to know that he’s got that problem licked. That it’s not a problem anymore. I’ve seen public statements to that effect, and if he reassures me that’s the case, then I’m satisfied with it.”
Hegseth, who did not respond to requests for comment from The Post, on Wednesday said on Kelly’s show that he spoke with Trump that morning and still has his support.
Trump has stood by numerous aides and appointees accused of sexual assault or indiscretion, but he has long disdained the abuse of alcohol by those around him dating back to the death of his brother, Fred Trump Jr., who suffered from alcoholism and died from related diseases at the age of 42.
Ramp up their defense
Trump has been troubled by the allegations about Hegseth’s excessive drinking, said two people familiar with his thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Trump does not drink alcohol, he frequently tells those around him. Trump has been asking transition aides to ramp up their defense of Hegseth and defend him against all accusations. His transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
A member of the military found to be under the influence of alcohol while on duty faces serious potential consequences, including loss of benefits and a dishonorable discharge in rare, egregious cases where someone is injured. While the secretary of defense is a civilian and not subject to those rules, the leader of the Pentagon would be expected to set a leadership example of temperance or moderation, former senior defense officials said.
“It is a matter of discipline,” said former defense secretary Leon Panetta, who served in that job during the Obama administration. “You can’t be a warrior, a fighter, if you’re having problems drinking, and so it is a legitimate question to ask: How bad a problem did he have, and is it something he has recognized and has he tried to correct? It clearly raises an issue about whether someone who has a tough time disciplining himself can discipline others.”
Panetta, who had served as a member of Congress, White House chief of staff and budget director and CIA director before heading the Pentagon, said the questions about Hegseth’s alcohol use are compounded by concerns that he has never run an organization remotely as large and complex as the Defense Department, overseeing 2 million members of the uniformed armed forces and 1 million civilians.
As Hegseth continued meeting with senators on Wednesday, it was unclear whether he was making significant inroads in allaying concerns about his past behavior. Sen John Thune, the incoming majority leader, said Hegseth must address the lawmakers’ concerns.
“There are hard questions being raised, so he’ll have to answer those,” said Thune.
While there is no prohibition against a Cabinet nominee having a history of intoxication, senators in 1989 were alarmed by an FBI investigation that found Tower – President George H.W. Bush’s nominee – had a history of alcohol abuse that he had reportedly stemmed by 1983. Tower’s nomination was defeated in a largely party-line vote in a Senate controlled by Democrats.
In 2015, Defense Secretary Ash Carter fired his senior military assistant, then-Lt. Gen. Ronald Lewis, as he faced allegations of repeatedly drinking to excess and acting inappropriately around female staff members while on official trips in the United States and abroad. Carter said upon Lewis’ dismissal that he expected “the highest possible standards of conduct from the men and women in this department, particularly from those serving in the most senior positions,” and the Defense Department Inspector General’s office later substantiated numerous allegations against him.
Hegseth, who left the Army National Guard as a major in 2021, initially gained public notice in the political world as a leading advocate for an interventionist military policy.
‘Dead as a doornail’
In Iraq, where he served from 2005 to 2006, he said on Will Cain’s podcast that an RPG hit his vehicle, adding that he would be “dead as a doornail” if it had exploded. He said that he had replayed moments he experienced in combat repeatedly in his head and worked through “a form of posttraumatic stress.” When he came home, he added, regular life felt “really dull and really inconsequential and really stupid” and it took time to adjust. “Usually for me, at least, it led to a bottle and that’s how you manage it. But you can’t do that forever, obviously, and thank God for the grace of God, otherwise a lot of guys would never pull through.”
Cain asked Hegseth if he drank heavily after returning from war, and Hegseth responded “Oh yeah.”
He deployed again in 2012, serving in Afghanistan with the National Guard. By July 2012, Hegseth was looking for the next chapter of his life, and it was after his return that he became founding president and CEO of CVA, originally known as Vets for Economic Freedom. Tax filings and interviews show that most of the group’s funding came from the network established by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.
CVA, with Hegseth as its public face and main speaker, hosted concerts and town halls around the country to meet with veterans and promote issues such as better access to health care. Hegseth made occasional appearances on Fox News, increasing his public profile.
Behind the scenes, however, there were signs of turmoil.
Some former employees said in interviews with The Washington Post that they complained that money was being wasted, that some senior staff were engaging in excessive drinking, and that Hegseth himself drank heavily and struggled to maintain order. Other employees praised Hegseth’s leadership and said they never witnessed him drink excessively.
In 2015, an email and a seven-page document sent by one or more former Hegseth’s colleagues was sent to executives overseeing the group. According to the New Yorker, these documents alleged that Hegseth had “a history of alcohol abuse.”
The Post has not independently verified the report or the substance of its claims. Parlatore told the New Yorker that the “outlandish claims” came from “a petty and jealous disgruntled former associate of Mr. Hegseth’s.”
Spokespersons for CVA and the Koch network declined comment, citing internal personnel matters.
The Post sought to contact more than three dozen people who worked with Hegseth from 2012 until he left the organization in January 2016. Many declined comment or did not respond to messages, and others said on the condition of anonymity to discuss private matters that they had seen Hegseth and others drink in a way they considered excessive. Several women reached by The Post said they had never observed Hegseth behave improperly or drink excessively.
Holly Talley, who was the group’s Louisiana local director, said Hegseth “was a respectful person. I never saw him cross any boundaries personally … he was a great leader.”
Hegseth departed the group in January 2016. While Hegseth was not fired, it is “fair” to say that he was pushed out, according to Marc Short, who was president of the Koch-funded Freedom Works, which in turn had been the primary benefactor of Hegseth’s organization.
Short, who said he had been supportive of Hegseth’s work, said there is “not one simple answer” about what happened, but the final straw was that “there was a difference of opinion about where the organization should be going,” Short said in an interview. “I think Pete was frustrated that there was a push for him to embrace a more isolationist worldview.”
On Megyn Kelly’s show, Hegseth disputed that he was fired or pushed out at CVA and said he departed due to differences on policy that included his hawkish viewpoint on countering the Islamic State.
Several former officials said the Koch organization was displeased with advocacy of intervention in foreign conflicts. Short’s explanation was supported by three other individuals who worked with Hegseth at the time and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.
Hegseth joined Fox as a weekend host in 2016, becoming a star conservative commentator for the network. But some colleagues from Fox at the time who spoke to The Post described a reputation behind the scenes of heavy drinking.
Other prominent names at the network defended Hegseth. “I can say unequivocally that I’ve never seen him rowdy or even drunk,” said Geraldo Rivera, who worked with Hegseth at Fox.
In October 2017, Hegseth attended a Republican women’s conference in Monterey, California, where he met a staff member of the organization at the bar and went with her to his hotel room. The 30-year-old staffer later told police she had been raped by Hegseth. Hegseth denied the allegation, saying he was drunk and the woman was the aggressor. The district attorney did not file charges, and the office has said there would be no further comment. Hegseth later paid the woman an undisclosed sum as part of a nondisclosure agreement, The Post has reported, he has said because he was afraid her accusation alone could derail his Fox career.
Military expectations
While no Republican has publicly opposed Hegseth as Trump’s choice to lead the DOD, some have openly sought assurances about his alcohol use.
Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator who became defense secretary in the Obama administration, said that the key for anyone seeking a position like defense secretary is “complete transparency.” That includes submitting to a full background check and a confirmation process where both a nominee’s policy positions and past personal behavior are scrutinized.
“Background checks are critically important because they can pick up these kinds of flaws and issues on nominees,” Hagel said. Once an official is confirmed and takes over their job, however, there is no formal document governing their behavior, Hagel said. It’s up to the individual whether they want to do something like have a glass of wine with dinner, he said, but “you know the seriousness of the job. You know your responsibilities.”
“Not that any of us are perfect, because we’re not, but drinking too much or drinking on the job is seriously one that you know is important and you just don’t cross that boundary,” he said. “It’s that simple.”
While the U.S. military has long had a culture infused with alcohol, U.S. troops can be prosecuted for a variety of crimes if drinking goes too far or leads to other misbehavior. Article 112 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the set of laws governing behavior by U.S. troops, prohibits being drunk on duty, while Article 134 is seen as a catchall that targets a wide range of behavior that is deemed problematic to good order and discipline.
Inappropriate behavior while intoxicated also could lead to a charge of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, another catchall that can be used in cases of drunkenness and adultery.
Asked about drinking that continued well after returning from deployments, Parlatore said Hegseth’s experiences would make him a stronger leader of the Pentagon.
“What’s important here is that Pete not only went through it, but overcame it, just as I and a lot of my other friends went through it and overcame it,” he said. “It gives him so much of a better perspective to understand the men and women in the Pentagon that he’s going to be leading.”
Trump, who has not publicly addressed Hegseth’s statements about his alcohol use, has said he has never consumed an alcoholic drink, told The Post in a 2019 interview that he regretted pressuring his brother to go into the family business, a rare admission of what he called a “mistake,” and said that his brother’s alcoholism served as a warning.
Trump said that if he started drinking, he would have met the same fate as his brother. “It’s very possible I wouldn’t be talking to you right now,” Trump said in the interview. “There is something about the genetic effect.”
