President-elect Donald Trump’s Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth came clean about his alcohol abuse allegations and said he must have had, like all men who came from war, a beer or two but he never had a drinking problem and he never had to seek counselling for that as it was never an abuse or a problem. On Megyn Kelly’s show Wednesday, Pete Hegseth said he is eager for the Senate hearing because that would put an end to the “arsenal of lies” that is being spread about him and would mean a real investigation.
“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.”
Hegseth says he will quit drinking
During the interview, Pete said like soldiers are not allowed to drink during the deployment, he would consider his Petangon job as a deployment and would quit drinking. “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.
After Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination as Trump’s attorney general, Hegseth emerged as the most controversial pick about whom there are second thoughts, reports claimed. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is being considered to replace Pete Hegseth but Hegseth dismissed these speculations.
Alcohol abuse is just one of the many complaints against him. In a 2018 email written to him by his mother Penelope Hegseth, there were accusations of mistreating women. But his mother clarified that it was written in a different context in haste and with deep emotions when Pete and his first wife were going through a difficult divorce.
