Kristen Welker Asks Trump Point Blank If He’s ‘Concerned’ Pete Hegseth ‘Has Struggled With Drinking’
NBC’s Kristen Welker asked President-elect Donald Trump if he is concerned about Pete Hegseth’s alleged alcohol problem during an interview the network released early ahead of Sunday’s Meet the Press.
Welker sat down with Trump for the first time since he was elected to a second term last month.
In one clip, she asked Trump if he still had “confidence” in Hegseth.
Regarding the former Fox News personality, Trump said, “He’s a young guy with a tremendous track record actually went to Princeton and went to Harvard. He was a good student at both, but he loves the military. And I think people are starting to see it. So, we’ll be working on his nomination along with a lot of others.”
Welker followed up, “Since you bring him up, do you still have confidence in Pete Hegseth?”
Trump replied, “Yes, I do, I really do. He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him through Fox, but I’ve known him for a long time, and he’s basically a military guy. I mean, every time I talk to him, all he wants to talk about is the military. He’s a military guy.”
Welker also pressed Trump as to whether he thought Hegseth could be confirmed by the Senate, to which he said he believed the former Fox & Friends Weekend host would make it through the process.
She then asked, “You don’t drink yourself. You’ve talked about how devastating drinking can be. How concerned are you that the person who you picked for this top job at the Defense Department, at least according to those who’ve worked with him, has struggled with drinking?”
Trump replied, “But I’ve spoken to people that know him very well, and they say he does not have a drinking problem.”
As The Washington Post reported:
Allegations of excessive drinking have shadowed Hegseth’s career in the years since as he has 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 Capitol 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.
While recounting his life after combat service, Hegseth once told Fox News host Will Cain, “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 beers leads to many, leads to self-medication, leads to ‘I’ve earned this.’ Like, ‘Don’t tell me I can’t.’”
Watch above via NBC News.
