A GOP senator who controversially defended President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon against allegations of excessive drinking by claiming U.S. lawmakers turn up to vote drunk is sticking to his guns.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) made the claim Tuesday during a confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary nominee who stands accused of being visibly drunk at work during his past careers in broadcasting and veterans’ advocacy.
“How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night?” Mullin bellowed at his colleagues at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. “Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign for their job? And don’t tell me you haven’t seen it, because I know you have.”
During an appearance on CNN later Tuesday, Mullin was pressed by host Kaitlan Collins to disclose the names of the senators he was talking about. He declined, but doubled down on the accusation.
“My whole point was that the senators on the other side were trying to act like they had more morals than Pete Hegseth,” he said. “And they don’t. If you’re going to hold someone accountable for their behavior, then hold everybody accountable. I’m not saying I’m the most moral man or the perfect individual. I’m absolutely not. I wasn’t the one calling him out.”
When Collins pointed out to Mullin that senators and defense secretaries hypothetically drinking on the job are both reasonable concerns that do not cancel each other out in some rhetorical gotcha, he suggested the unnamed lawmakers he alleged drink on the job had no right to assume that the head of the most powerful defense department in the world should not do the same.
“What they were saying is he was incapable of doing his job,” he replied. “What I was trying to get to is, if you’re capable of doing your job and you’re able to still drink on the job or late in the evening, then don’t tell me that Pete can’t.”
Mullin also said that the issue of Hegseth’s history of extramarital affairs—something he has admitted to and said is in his past—was another area where members of Congress had limited standing to make judgments.
“There’s multiple members of Congress who have had affairs on their wives and they haven’t [been] called [on] to be [step down],” he said.
Under questioning from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) during Tuesday’s hearing, Hegseth refused to say whether marital infidelity, excessive drinking, or sexual assault were disqualifying for the top Pentagon job.
Multiple GOP senators said last month that Hegseth pledged to them that he would abstain from alcohol altogether if confirmed.
The assurance came amid multiple reports of alleged intoxication that, for a period, some observers said could jeopardize his prospects—Trump’s transition team even began considering alternate defense secretary nominees.
The Washington Post, citing six former Fox News employees who worked with Hegseth while he was a host at the network, reported last month that he had a reputation as a “heavy drinker” and that they saw him drinking at work and visibly drunk at work events.
The New Yorker reported that Hegseth was pressured to resign from a leadership post at advocacy group Concerned Veterans for America in part due to concerns about his drinking at work-related events.
In the most serious case, a woman alleged Hegseth raped her at a hotel in 2017 after an intoxicated evening.
Hegseth has repeatedly denied the allegations, including when asked about them at Tuesday’s hearing.
He has openly spoken about the allure of alcohol in his personal life after he returned from army deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Asked during a 2021 appearance on The Will Cain Show podcast if he drank after his service ended, Hegseth replied, “Oh yeah.”
“I’d look around at 10 o’clock and be like, ‘What am I going to do today? How about I drink some beers?’” he told Cain, the podcast’s host, and a fellow Fox News fixture.
“And one beer leads to many, leads to self-medication, leads to ‘I’ve earned this.’ Like, ‘Don’t tell me I can’t.’”