Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, faces an uphill battle to get elected by the Senate as lawmakers express concern about his controversial past.Among the controversies, Hegseth, a veteran and conservative commentator, has faced allegations of excessive drinking, including on the job when he worked at Fox News. Hegseth has vowed to “fight like hell” for the position and pledged to quit drinking alcohol if he is confirmed by the Senate.In an interview on The Megyn Kelly Show on Wednesday, Hegseth repeatedly described the allegations against him as “smears” and noted that the reports about his excessive drinking cite anonymous sources.”First of all, I’ve never had a drinking problem,” Hegseth said. “No one’s ever approached me and said, ‘You should really look at getting help for drinking.’ Never, never sought counseling, never sought help, but I respect and appreciate people who do. But you know, what do guys do when they come back from war oftentimes? Have some beers. How do you deal with the demons you see on the battlefield? Sometimes it’s with a bottle.”
Pete Hegseth walks through the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. He has faced allegations about excessive drinking.
Pete Hegseth walks through the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. He has faced allegations about excessive drinking.
Getty Images/Andrew Harnik
Hegseth said that if he is appointed, he would treat it as a deployment where you are not allowed to drink.”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.Although in recent days Hegseth has denied that he has had a problem with excessive drinking, he has in the past talked about turning to alcohol after returning home from deployment in Iraq.In an August 2021 appearance on The Will Cain Show podcast, Hegseth 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?'””And one beer leads to many, leads to self-medication, leads to ‘I’ve earned this.’ Like, ‘don’t tell me I can’t,'” he said.When Cain asked Hegseth if he drank heavily after returning from combat, Hegseth said: “Oh yeah.”And in his book, In the Arena, published in 2016, Hegseth describes how he had once crafted a “pious caricature” of himself, involving abstaining from vices including alcohol, which he admits was often misleading.He wrote: “I barely trust someone who doesn’t enjoy a few drinks and won’t drop a well-placed f-bomb.”The Washington Post previously reported that six former Fox News employees said they had seen him drunk at work several times, including one incident when he consumed several beers that had been purchased for a St. Patrick’s Day at 10 a.m.Tim Parlatore, his attorney, denied the allegations, telling Newsweek: “There was never any drinking on the job at Fox News. Multiple people have come out on the record using their names to refute these false anonymous claims.”In another report by The New Yorker, sources claimed that Hegseth was forced to step down from two nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran due to allegations including excessive drinking.In order to secure Senate confirmation, Hegseth needs no more than three Republicans to vote against him.Several lawmakers have expressed concern about his drinking and said they have sought reassurance that it would not impact his ability to do the job.He has also faced sexual misconduct allegations, which he has denied.
