An NBC News hit piece accusing Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, of habitually coming to work at “Fox and Friends Weekend” hung over and smelling of alcohol has been refuted by over a dozen Fox News personalities and guests who have worked with him, including his two cohosts.
The NBC story, which is based on ten anonymous sources, claims that Hegseth’s drinking “concerned” his colleagues at Fox News.
“Two of those people said that on more than a dozen occasions during Hegseth’s time as a co-host of ‘Fox & Friends Weekend,’ which began in 2017, they smelled alcohol on him before he went on air,” the NBC story alleges. “Those same two people, plus another, said that during his time there he appeared on television after they’d heard him talk about being hungover as he was getting ready or on set.”
According to the story, “one of the sources said they smelled alcohol on him as recently as last month and heard him complain about being hungover this fall.”
NBC News reporters Chloe Melas, Courtney Kube and Sarah Fitzpatrick claim they spoke with ten current and former employees at Fox News. However, 13 of Hegseth’s colleagues at Fox have gone on the record to strongly dispute the story on social media. And these employees say they weren’t even contacted by NBC News for comment.
Hegseth’s Fox and Friends Weekend cohost Will Cain fumed on X that NBC’s story is “Bullshit. 100 percent bullshit. Actually…horseshit.”
“Put my name on it. On the record. It’ll be your only on the record source,” Cain wrote. “Signed, The guy who sat next to him for 8 hours every week for five years starting at 6am.”
Rachel Campos Duffy, Hegseth’s other cohost concurred. “The losers at @NBCNews never reached out to me either,” she posted on X. “Will Cain is right – your story IS horseshit. You now have 2 people who sat next to him 8+ hours a week on the record. Will you retract or correct your story?”
Duffy’s husband, former congressman Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), is Trump’s pick for Transportation Secretary. Their daughter, Evita Duffy-Alfonzo, posted her heartfelt defense of Hegseth, along with a photo of his family on X: “I stand with Pete and his beautiful family in the face of these smears,” Alfonzo wrote. “@NBCNews did not contact my mom @RCamposDuffy or @willcain for their latest anonymously sourced hit piece because it is total bs. The state and their mouthpieces in the propaganda press hate Pete because they FEAR Pete—and that’s exactly what America needs.”
Numerous Fox News employees defended the Army veteran throughout the afternoon and evening Tuesday.
Leo Terrell, a civil rights attorney and Fox News contributor, described Hegseth as a “great American” on X. “No one ask me my opinion about the great @PeteHegseth aka my friend!” Terrell wrote.
Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren also weighed in on X. “Add me also. Pete has always been the epitome of a class act and a great guy,” Lahren posted. “These attacks are shameful BS.”
Mollie Hemingway, Federalist Editor-in-Chief and Fox News contributor, wrote on X: “I can’t stand the propaganda practice of using anonymous sources to smear political opponents, as NBC does here. FWIW, I have nothing but good things to say about Pete and the anonymously sourced stories don’t match my personal experience in any way. Quite the contrary, in fact.”
Dr. Nicole Saphier, Fox’s medical news contributor, said she has regularly interacted with Hegseth on Fox and Friends and has never observed the behaviors reported by NBC.
“I have routinely sat on the couch with Pete Hegseth for 8 years,” Saphier posted on X. “Not once did I suspect he had consumed anything other than an egg sandwich and coffee before going on air.”
Fox News contributor Joey Jones called the allegations “Laughable.”
“I don’t drink. I’m disgusted by the smell of alcohol on someone’s breath,” Jones wrote on X. “I’ve never EVER seen Pete drink like that, and have never smelled alcohol on his breath at work. These hit pieces are getting laughable.”
Town Hall columnist and Fox News contributor Guy Benson also expressed his doubts about the story: “I’ve co-hosted with Pete and have never experienced anything like what was claimed in this anonymously-sourced report,” Benson wrote on X.
Lisa Boothe, another Fox News contributor who has worked closely with Hegseth, flatly stated that NBC’s allegation’s “did not happen.”
“I’ve guest co-hosted with him numerous times before,” Booth wrote. “Not once did this happen. Not once have I heard this from others. This is such a disgusting and false smear. It is wrong and malicious.”
Radio talk Show host and Fox News contributor Dan Bongino didn’t mince words: “Worked with Pete for years. This is absolute BULLSHIT,” he posted on X.
Former Fox News producer Kyle Becker posted on X that he had worked with Hegseth “numerous times” and “never got the impression he was ever drunk.”
Becker added: “No bloodshot eyes. No slurred speech. No disheveled appearance. No wobbly gait. Nothing. I’m also calling bullshit.”
Another former Fox producer, Brianna Morello said “I’ve never heard this in my life.”
“Everyone spoke highly of him and still does til this day,” Morello wrote on X. “I noticed the employees are anonymous.”
Fox News Contributor Sarah Carter said she has known Hegseth for a long time and has never observed the behavior described in the NBC report.
“I have known Pete Hegseth since we were both at The Blaze way back when and as a contributor for Fox since 2017, I have never once seen this type of reported lies or behavior.” Carter wrote on X. “He’s always been a gentleman and great guy!”
Fox News producer William Case claimed to know who NBC’s anonymous sources are, and said they’re the one’s who came into work hungover.
“I worked with Pete Hegseth for YEARS –on set, in the control room, in the newsroom, in taxis, on boats, on location. This is all LOLOL,” Case posted on X.
The F&F staff all LOVED Pete, and women of every rank thought he was just the greatest thing (oh the stories). Also:
1. I know the NBC producers anonymously quoted here and they’re 100% cowards. They’re also loaded with medications and likely functioning alcohols themselves.
2. I have photos of F&F weekend staff coming into work hungover, on the floor, by their desks. They were too drunk to notice Pete most days.
3. I don’t let problematic alcoholics hold my children.
Case posted a photo of Hegseth holding his baby.
Numerous guests who have appeared on Fox News, also vouched on the record for Hegseth, including Corey de Angelis, Senior Fellow at the American Culture Project; OutKick Founder Clay Travis; author Carol Roth; musician Chad Prather, radio host Jason Rantz; conservative commentator Monica Crowley; TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk; TPUSA contributor Graham Allen; combat veteran and author Sean Parnell; and British media personality Piers Morgan, who said, “this relentless onslaught against Pete Hegseth is getting pathetic.” Morgan added: “Done Fox and Friends many times with him and never known Pete be anything but utterly professional on camera and a nice, respectful guy off it.”
Despite their scurrilous claims, none of NBC’s anonymous sources “could recall an instance when Hegseth missed a scheduled appearance because he’d been drinking.”
“Everyone would be talking about it behind the scenes before he went on the air,” one of the sources, allegedly a former Fox employee, told NBC.
DC Examiner reporter Jon Nicosia threw cold water on the entire NBC report, explaining on X that if any of the allegations were true, they would have leaked out long before now.
“I have covered the media for 15 years. If Pete Hegseth was as drunk on set, etc., as people are saying, it would’ve been gossip everywhere,” Nicosia wrote.
I was Managing Editor at Mediaite when the Roger Ailes stuff went down. That place (Fox) talks/leaks a LOT. Until tonight. Not a word or post on the current media gossip sites about the smell of booze, nothing.
The media business is brutal. Getting rid of him if he was drinking opens up another prime spot for the next star in line to take a seat on the couch. It’s just that simple. Someone would’ve leaked it far sooner.
Nicosia called the NBC report “a hit piece and garbage, nothing more.”
Update:
Hegseth, who is on Capitol Hill this week meeting with Senators, weighed in on the story Wednesday morning on X:
“I’m doing this for the warfighters, not the warmongers,” he said. “The Left is afraid of disrupters and change agents. They are afraid of @realDonaldTrump—and me. So they smear w/ fake, anonymous sources & BS stories. They don’t want truth. Our warriors never back down, & neither will I.”
Scandal fictions are as prolific as race hoaxes. They are always the democrat’s last line of defense. The Senate needs to avoid wasting energy by platforming opposition hearings to Trump nominees. Senate republicans should hold a closed door vote on the nominees. Those that pass muster should be approved en masse or by recess appointment. Those that may be questionable could be allowed to go forward to the full Senate hearing process or be replaced now.
Don’t waste time with headline producing hearings. Those will only benefit the opposition and come with an opportunity cost. The press will love those hearings, and so will democrats. There is more than one way to skin the ‘advise and consent’ cat.