'Passed out in the back': Frustrated senator tries to pry booze answers out of Hegseth
A frustrated Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) tried to pry answers out of Pete Hegseth Tuesday about reports the defense secretary nominee had a problem with drinking during his time leading a veterans organization.
"Leading Concerned Veterans of America, there were very specific cases cited by individuals about your conduct," Kelly began. "I'm going to go through a few of them, and I just want you to tell me if these are true or false. Very simple."
Kelly went on to list damning examples of Hegseth's alleged overindulgent behavior.
"On Memorial Day 2014, at a CVA event in Virginia, you needed to be carried out of the event for being intoxicated," Kelly posited.
"Anonymous smears," answered Hegseth.
"Just true or false," Kelly said. "Very simple. Summer of 2014 in Cleveland. Drunk in public with the CVA team."
"Anonymous smears," Hegseth replied.
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"I'm just asking for true or false ... answers," Kelly said again. "An event in North Carolina. Drunk in front of three young female staff members after you had instituted a no-alcohol policy and then reversed it. True or false?"
"Anonymous smears."
Kelly continued, "December of 2014 at the CVA Christmas party at the Grand Hyatt at Washington, DC, you were noticeably intoxicated and had to be carried up to your room. Is that true or false?"
"Anonymous smears."
"Another time, a CVA staffer stated that you passed out in the back of a party bus. Is that true or false?"
"Anonymous smears."
The line of questioning continued with Kelly concluding, "Now, the behavior I cited, if true, do you think that this behavior of intoxication going into these type of establishments — women on your staff being so uncomfortable that they have to file these sort of harassment claims — do you think this is appropriate behavior for a leader?"
Hegseth answered that the on-the-record statements from colleagues testified to his "leadership and professionalism." As Hegseth tried to continue, Kelly interjected, "I have limited time. I'm not even going to go into the accusations...that come from Fox News...There are multiple instances of accusations against you about drinking on the job —"
"All anonymous, all false, all refuted by my colleagues," Hegseth maintained.