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Politics|Hegseth’s Drinking, Once ‘Self-Medication,’ Could Prompt Questions at His Hearing
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/us/politics/pete-hegseth-drinking-alcohol.html
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President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary has spoken candidly about his alcohol use in interviews over the past few years.
By Sharon LaFraniereDylan Freedman and Kate Kelly
Sharon LaFraniere and Kate Kelly have been covering Pete Hegseth’s path to the nomination for defense secretary. Dylan Freedman reviewed four years’ worth of interviews and media appearances by Mr. Hegseth for this article.
Jan. 14, 2025, 5:02 a.m. ET
In August 2021, Pete Hegseth said on Will Cain’s podcast that slowly, surely, “by the grace of God,” he had been able to undo a pattern of alcohol abuse that had dogged him since he returned from military combat in Iraq in 2006.
Asked about his New Year’s resolutions on the same podcast in mid-January 2024, Mr. Hegseth brought up alcohol anew. “The less booze thing is not working out for me,” he said then.
Mr. Hegseth, the former Fox News anchor and combat veteran President-elect Donald J. Trump picked for defense secretary, is likely to be asked to revisit the issue of his alcohol use as part of his Senate confirmation hearings on Tuesday.
The New York Times and other news organizations have documented a pattern of excessive drinking by Mr. Hegseth. In the most serious episode, a woman in Monterey, Calif., accused him of raping her in 2017. Mr. Hegseth said the encounter was consensual, and it resulted in no criminal charges. His lawyer said Mr. Hegseth was inebriated at the time.
In an interview on Megyn Kelly’s SiriusXM show last month, Mr. Hegseth acknowledged concerns about his drinking had put his nomination at risk. He promised then that there “won’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips” if he is confirmed.
“I need to make sure the senators and the troops and President Trump and everybody else knows when you call me 24/7 you’re getting fully dialed-in Pete, just like you always did in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said then.
