Pete Hegseth, the previous Fox Information character President-elect Donald Trump tapped for protection secretary despite the sexual assault allegations in opposition to him, alarmed his colleagues on the community along with his alcohol utilization, present and former Fox Information workers instructed NBC Information on Tuesday.
Ten of his colleagues shared their observations about Hegseth with NBC Information, two of whom stated they smelled alcohol on his breath greater than a dozen instances earlier than he went on air to co-host “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
“Everyone would be talking about it behind the scenes before he went on the air,” one of many former Fox workers instructed NBC.
“He’s such a charming guy, but he just acted like the rules didn’t apply to him,” one of many former workers additionally stated.
Hegseth, who left Fox Information after Trump nominated him to guide the Protection Division, would additionally complain about being hungover earlier than occurring air, a number of the sources stated. Nevertheless, none may recall Hegseth lacking work due to his consuming.
Even so, one present and two former community workers stated they felt they wanted to “babysit” Hegseth, with one saying: “We’d have to call him to make sure he didn’t oversleep because we knew he’d be out partying the night before.”
Tom Williams by way of Getty Photographs
Allegations of alcohol abuse and extreme late-night partying are severe contemplating the job Hegseth is up for. Protection secretaries are known as on in any respect hours of the night time to take care of worldwide issues, usually with life-or-death penalties.
Hegseth’s lawyer deferred remark to the Trump transition crew, which stated: “These disgusting allegations are completely unfounded and false, and anyone peddling these defamatory lies to score political cheap shots is sickening. As a decorated combat veteran, Pete has never done anything to jeopardize that, and he is treating his nomination as the most important deployment of his life.”
Fox Information didn’t instantly return a request for remark.
NBC Information’ report comes two days after The New Yorker printed a bombshell report about Hegseth, a former Military Nationwide Guard officer, being pressured out of high roles at two veterans teams as a consequence of “serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct,” the outlet wrote.
The New Yorker article corroborates NBC Information’ reporting about his consuming habits, citing an e mail despatched to one among Hegseth’s successors on the group stating that Hegseth had a “history of alcohol abuse.”
The alcohol misuse allegations come as Hegseth is already battling sexual assault allegations. Final month, the Metropolis of Monterey, California, confirmed that Hegseth was concerned in a police investigation about an assault that allegedly passed off on the Hyatt Regency Monterey Resort and Spa throughout a conference hosted by the California Federation of Republican Ladies in 2017.
Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and maintained that the sexual encounter was consensual. He has additionally falsely claimed he was “completely cleared” by a police investigation.
The New Yorker report additionally included allegations that at one of many veterans’ teams, Hegseth and different members of his administration crew “sexually pursued the organization’s female staffers” and promoted a tradition of sexism that led to a male worker trying to assault a feminine colleague.
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And in keeping with an e mail obtained by The New York Occasions final week, Hegseth’s mother referred to him as an “abuser of women” within the midst of his 2018 divorce proceedings.
