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| - As U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, his choice for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, came under close scrutiny. News media reports shone a spotlight on the former "Fox & Friends" host's past, writing about his alleged alcohol problems and being intoxicated at work and other events. One Democrat even reportedly said Hegseth should be disqualified from taking the post over his drinking issues.
Amid this, some social media users and outlets claimed that Hegseth promised he would quit drinking if the U.S. Senate confirmed him as secretary of defense (
In short, Hegseth did say he would stop drinking if he was confirmed as secretary of defense. Therefore, we have rated this claim as true.
He made such a promise in a December 2024 podcast interview with political commentator and journalist Megyn Kelly. His exact words can be seen below:
Kelly: Have you stopped drinking now?
Hegseth: Thank you for asking that. So when I was, so my plan going forward, ongoing, is when I deployed, we had something called General Order Number One, and in General Order Number One, is you are not allowed to drink while you're on deployment, right? So if you're in Iraq and Afghanistan in a combat zone, you're not allowed to drink. That's how I view this role as secretary of defense is that I'm not going to have a drink at all.
It's not hard for me because it's not a problem for me. But 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.
So 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.
The exchange took place at the 35:23 mark of the video below:
During his Jan. 14, 2025, Senate hearing, Hegseth also said he would no longer drink if confirmed. Hawaii's Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono asked him: "You recently promised some of my Republican colleagues that you stopped drinking and won't drink if confirmed. Correct?"
Hegseth responded: "Absolutely."
However, Hegseth would not respond with a yes or no to her question about whether he would resign as defense secretary if he drank on the job.
In the same hearing, Hegseth refused to confirm or deny specific cases about his drinking, including being carried out of an event while drunk, passing out while drunk, being drunk in front of female colleagues and more. He called each of those claims "anonymous smears."
In December 2024, prior to the hearing, Republican senators reportedly said Hegseth promised to stop drinking. Responding to Hegseth's misconduct allegations, including claims he had been drunk in public, Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt reportedly said: "He offered up to me, and I know he has with other senators too, that he's not drinking, and that's not something he's going to do when confirmed here."
North Dakota's Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer also allegedly told reporters that Hegseth pledged to him that he would not drink when secretary: "He [Hegseth] said, 'My commitment is to not touch alcohol while I have this position.'"
Hegseth has faced accusations of being intoxicated on his past job, sexist behavior, financial mismanagement, sexual assault and domestic abuse. Hegseth has denied such claims and called them part of a "coordinated smear campaign."
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