{"id":133105,"date":"2024-12-04T05:44:28","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T22:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=133105"},"modified":"2024-12-04T05:44:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T22:44:28","slug":"pete-hegseths-drinking-worried-colleagues-at-fox-news-sources-tell-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=133105","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth&#8217;s drinking worried colleagues at Fox News, sources tell NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"\">Pete Hegseth, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-picks-fox-news-host-pete-hegseth-defense-secretary-rcna179895\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s pick for defense secretary<\/a>, drank in ways that concerned his colleagues at Fox News, according to 10 current and former Fox employees who spoke with NBC News.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Two of those people said that on more than a dozen occasions during Hegseth\u2019s time as a co-host of \u201cFox &amp; Friends Weekend,\u201d which began in 2017, they smelled alcohol on him before he went on air. Those same two people, plus another, said that during his time there he appeared on television after they\u2019d heard him talk about being hungover as he was getting ready or on set.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">One of the sources said they smelled alcohol on him as recently as last month and heard him complain about being hungover this fall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">None of the sources with whom NBC News has spoken could recall an instance in which Hegseth missed a scheduled appearance because he\u2019d been drinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">&#8220;Everyone would be talking about it behind the scenes before he went on the air,\u201d one of the former Fox employees said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">On Sunday night, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/news-desk\/pete-hegseths-secret-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the New Yorker detailed<\/a> concerns about Hegseth\u2019s drinking at two jobs he held at veterans\u2019 nonprofits before joining Fox. \u201cA previously undisclosed whistle-blower report on Hegseth\u2019s tenure as the president of Concerned Veterans for America, from 2013 until 2016, describes him as being repeatedly intoxicated while acting in his official capacity \u2014 to the point of needing to be carried out of the organization\u2019s events,\u201d the magazine reported.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">According to the New Yorker, Tim Parlatore, a lawyer for Hegseth, responded: \u201cWe\u2019re not going to comment on outlandish claims laundered through The New Yorker by a petty and jealous disgruntled former associate of Mr. Hegseth\u2019s. Get back to us when you try your first attempt at actual journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">This account of Hegseth\u2019s time at Fox News is based on NBC News interviews with three current and seven former Fox employees, all of whom asked not to be named due to fear of retaliation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Three current employees said that his drinking remained a concern up until Trump announced him as his choice to run the Pentagon, at which point Hegseth left Fox. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cHe\u2019s such a charming guy, but he just acted like the rules didn\u2019t apply to him,\u201d one of the former employees said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A spokesperson for the Trump transition team said: \u201cThese 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Parlatore, Hegseth&#8217;s lawyer, referred NBC to the statement from the Trump transition spokesperson. Fox News did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p><br class=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__yAWZ0 styles_medium__OMa6x\"><picture class=\"styles_image__1qciH\" data-testid=\"picture\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2024-10\/241024-lloyd-austin-mb-1142-794fd2.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-10\/241024-lloyd-austin-mb-1142-794fd2.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2024-10\/241024-lloyd-austin-mb-1142-794fd2.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-10\/241024-lloyd-austin-mb-1142-794fd2.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-10\/241024-lloyd-austin-mb-1142-794fd2.jpg\" alt=\"US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Arrives In Kyiv\" height=\"1667\" width=\"2500\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__Pe5JC\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 21.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Global Images Ukraine via Getty <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"\">Round-the-clock duties<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">The former colleagues\u2019 descriptions of Hegseth\u2019s behavior while he was employed at Fox News raise questions about his ability to carry out the round-the-clock duties involved in managing the Pentagon and its 3 million civilian and military employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A secretary of defense is generally working at all hours and might need to respond to a crisis that arises suddenly at night or on a weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In February 2023, while traveling in Manila on the kind of trip that often requires socializing with other high-level officials, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was awakened at 3 a.m. local time for a phone call about a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/investigations\/secret-us-effort-track-hide-surveil-chinese-spy-balloon-rcna130991\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chinese spy balloon<\/a> flying over the continental U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Similarly, the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel began around midnight Eastern Time. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">And the Department of Defense is responsible for protecting U.S. cities and infrastructure from potential airborne threats similar to the 9\/11 attacks. At any time, day or night, the secretary of defense might be called upon to decide whether a civilian aircraft should be shot down. The wrong decision either way could mean the death of innocent people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cFor the sake of national security, I really hope he has stopped drinking,\u201d one of the former Fox employees said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cHe should not be secretary of defense,\u201d another former Fox employee said. \u201cHis drinking should be disqualifying.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In 1989, the Senate rejected then-President George H.W. Bush\u2019s nominee to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/archive\/politics\/1989\/03\/10\/senate-kills-towers-nomination-as-defense-chief-53-47\/5e0b1518-4ee7-499e-85b8-b2f9fcb4989a\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">defense secretary, former Sen. John Tower<\/a>, R-Texas,  in part over concerns about Tower\u2019s history of drinking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">As a co-host, Hegseth needed to be at work early on weekend mornings. For a show that began at 6 a.m. ET, his female co-hosts would come in around 4 a.m. to prepare and have their hair and makeup done; male co-hosts typically arrived around 5 or 5:15 a.m., 45 minutes before they went on air, three sources said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">One current and two former Fox employees said they felt like they needed to \u201cbabysit\u201d Hegseth due to his drinking and late nights. \u201cWe\u2019d have to call him to make sure he didn\u2019t oversleep because we knew he\u2019d be out partying the night before,\u201d one of them said. Another said, \u201cMorning TV is stressful, and more times than not Pete made it even more stressful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Hegseth sometimes arrived with only 20 minutes or less before the show began, according to those three sources, stressing out his colleagues. They said Hegseth\u2019s makeup would sometimes need to be done while he was on set because his late arrival left his colleagues with such a small amount of time. The sources could not say whether his lateness was caused solely by drinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The whistleblower report detailed in the New Yorker alleged repeated instances of Hegseth<strong> <\/strong>drinking heavily at work events, including a team outing to a strip club in Louisiana in November 2014 in which he became so inebriated that he \u201chad to be restrained\u201d from climbing on stage to dance with the strippers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Hegseth drank heavily at some social events with Fox News colleagues as well, according to two former employees, with one of the former colleagues saying he would get \u201cabsolutely wasted.\u201d<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Last month, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/police-report-details-alleged-sexual-assault-trumps-defense-pick-pete-rcna181137\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monterey California police department<\/a> released records of a 2017 investigation into an accusation that Hegseth sexually assaulted a woman in a hotel room following a Republican women\u2019s convention. The accuser, identified in the records as \u201cJane Doe,\u201d believed someone may have slipped something into her drink.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and he was never charged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThis police report confirms what I\u2019ve said all along,\u201d Hegseth\u2019s lawyer Parlatore told NBC News last month. \u201cThe incident was fully investigated and police found the allegation to be false, which is why no charges were filed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"endmark\">Hegseth has also confirmed that he paid the woman an undisclosed settlement. Parlatore previously told NBC News that Hegseth \u201cultimately decided to enter into a settlement for a significantly reduced amount\u201d at the \u201cheight of the MeToo movement.\u201d Parlatore also said that his client was \u201cinnocent collateral damage in a lie that the Complainant was holding onto to keep her marriage intact.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/national-security\/pete-hegseths-drinking-worried-colleagues-fox-news-sources-tell-nbc-ne-rcna181471\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s pick for defense secretary, drank in ways that concerned his colleagues at Fox News, according to 10 current and former Fox employees who spoke with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=133105\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}