Politics

Truth About FBI’s Slipshod Pete Hegseth ‘Background Check’ Revealed

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Democrats in the Senate are raising concerns about the FBI’s probe into the nominee for secretary of defense.

Pete Hegseth
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New questions are being raised about the FBI background check conducted for President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Defense Department, on the eve of Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing.

Investigators reportedly did not interview the current and former Fox News staff who anonymously accused Hegseth of concerning drinking at work events, allegations which were first reported by NBC News in December. Instead, they just interviewed a public relations representative for the cable network, according to a new report in The New Yorker, citing sources.

Fox did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily Beast concerning the background check.

Nominees for Cabinet positions and other roles in the Executive Branch are typically required to undergo a background check conducted by federal investigators, which is then handed over to members of the Senate committees tasked with holding confirmation hearings.

But top Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), expressed concern over how the background check for Hegseth was being handled.

“We should all be able to see the report, and draw our own conclusions about how incomplete it is,” Warren told reporters on Monday night.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has faced allegations of sexual assault, drinking at work events, and financial mismanagement at a veterans’ nonprofit since President-elect Donald Trump tapped him for secretary of defense in November.

Hegseth has repeatedly denied these allegations, and many of his former colleagues at Fox joined him to slam the anonymous sources at the time the report surrounding his drinking was released. The Trump transition team has consistently stuck with Hegseth, calling the allegations “unfounded and false.”

Multiple sources also told both The New Yorker and NBC News that the FBI’s investigation did not include interviews with at least one of Hegseth’s ex-wives. Investigators also reportedly did not interview the woman who accused Hegseth of sexual assault in 2017.

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