Trump’s defense secretary pick under spotlight amid fresh concerns about his past

Geoff Bennett:

Welcome to the "News Hour."

A buried whistle-blower report has come to light raising fresh concerns about the fitness of president-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon.

Amna Nawaz:

Former FOX News host and defense secretary-delegate Pete Hegseth was on Capitol Hill today.

Question:

Misspent funds, mistreatment of women, intoxicated on the job, do you have any comment about that reporting at all?

Amna Nawaz:

He refused to answer media questions while meeting with Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville ahead of a potential confirmation battle next year.

"The New Yorker"'s Jane Mayer investigated Hegseth's time leading two nonprofits for military veterans and uncovered allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety and personal misconduct. She joins us now.

Jane, it's good to see you. Thanks for being with us.

Jane Mayer, "The New Yorker": Thanks for having me.

Amna Nawaz:

So, you reviewed documents. You also spoke with Hegseth's former colleagues at these groups that he ran. What kind of picture did they paint of Hegseth as a leader?

Jane Mayer:

It really was a picture that was, I would say, increasingly alarming in some ways.

It was a picture of a leader who was pushed out of his leadership positions in two groups that were for veterans because there were so many concerns about his financial mismanagement and his personal conduct. So — and these were relatively small groups with relatively small budgets. And the first group had only 10 people working at it, Veterans for Freedom.

And it raised a lot of questions about how he would manage the largest department in the federal government, the most lethal and largest military in the world.

Amna Nawaz:

Jane, there's also specific allegations of alcohol abuse, some stories and anecdotes you relate people telling you about Hegseth getting so drunk he had to be restrained or carried back to his hotel room.

There's one incident from May of 2015, when he's on official business traveling in Ohio. He and someone else from the organization gets so drunk, they're chanting and yelling at the hotel bar. What happens there?

Jane Mayer:

Yes, I mean, this comes from a letter that was written by a member of the organization, this veterans group called Concern Veterans for America, which Hegseth was leading at the time.

And this member of it wrote a letter to the managers there, saying that Hegseth's behavior was despicable and embarrassing, because what he did was, he ended up closing down the bar at 2:30 in the morning, chanting and screaming: "Kill all Muslims. Kill all Muslims."

And it was just so completely beyond the pale really for the veterans that worked in this group. And so — and I think maybe alarming also to think about someone leading the Pentagon who has voiced such attitudes and been so out of control.

Amna Nawaz:

In your piece, you also quote Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who says: "Much as we might be sympathetic to people with continuing alcohol problems, they shouldn't be at the top of our national security structure."

Jane, from your reporting, do we know if any of Mr. Hegseth's reported issues with alcohol persist to this day?

Jane Mayer:

I mean, I think it's a very good question you as. And "The New Yorker" submitted many questions to Mr. Hegseth and to his lawyer and gave him two days to answer them. And instead of answering any of the questions or refuting anything in the story, they just said they would have no comment.

So, obviously, this is of utmost importance. We need to know whether someone who might be the top person in the Defense Department has a very serious alcohol problem.

Amna Nawaz:

Jane, there's also now a body of reporting looking into Hegseth's personal story as well, multiple marriages and infidelities that have been documented, also troubling details from a police report related to a sexual assault allegation back in 2017.

This weekend, "The New York Times" also published an e-mail from his mother in 2018, in which she says in part: "On behalf of all the women, and I know it's many, you have abused in some way, I say get some help and take an honest look at yourself."

We should note that his mother has since disavowed those comments in speaking with "The New York Times."

But, Jane, what does your reporting show about any of this as a pattern of behavior and also that sexual assault allegation from 2017?

Jane Mayer:

Well, I mean, we have to say, of course, that he has denied sexually assaulting this woman. She's anonymous at this point.

But the thing that has brought much attention to this is that he failed to disclose to the transition staff that he had secretly struck up a settlement with this woman and has been paying her and that they also struck up a nondisclosure agreement to try to keep it secret.

And so the Trump administration has decided not to have the FBI investigate potential Cabinet officers. So they didn't have the FBI doing a background check. And Pete Hegseth never told the transition staff that this was in his background. It just came up because a friend of the woman's actually went to the transition team and said, did you realize this about him?

So these tales from the past in his life just seem to be surfacing one by one by one.

Amna Nawaz:

Jane, the Trump team was reportedly blindsided by some of the recent reporting about Hegseth.

From your sources, does it seem like all the potentially damaging allegations are now out in the open, that everything that senators need to weigh is out there and reported?

Jane Mayer:

No, I actually don't think so, because, just today — I mean, this story came out in "The New Yorker" just around midnight last night. And, by today, people have been calling me all day long with more examples of this kind of behavior from Pete Hegseth.

So, I don't think we really, truly know the whole story yet.

Amna Nawaz:

That is Jane Mayer of "The New Yorker" joining us tonight.

Jane, thank you. Good to see you.

Jane Mayer:

Thanks so much for having me.