The man chosen by Donald Trump to be defence secretary has refused to answer Sky News questions about whether he has a problem with alcohol and women.
Pete Hegseth has attracted fresh controversy over claims of excessive drinking, financial mismanagement and improper behaviour.
An article in the New Yorker magazine reported the allegations led to him having to quit leadership roles in two separate non-profit organisations for military veterans.
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It suggested that whistleblowers claimed a drunken Mr Hegseth had to be held back from joining strippers on stage in a Louisiana club and, in an Ohio bar in 2014, chanted “Kill all Muslims, kill all Muslims.”
The Fox News personality has been on Capitol Hill lobbying senators ahead of his job confirmation process.
Sky News caught up with him between meetings and asked him the following:
1. Does your past behaviour make you unfit to serve?
2. Do you have a problem with women, alcohol and spending?
3. If former colleagues don’t think you could run a non-profit, why should you run the nation’s military?
On all three questions, Mr Hegseth declined to answer.
Pete Hegseth attracted controversy over alleged excessive drinking and other claims. Pic: Reuters
His effort to garner support among politicians is already complicated by revelations that police in California investigated an allegation of sexual assault against him in 2017.
It didn’t result in criminal charges and Mr Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing, insisting the encounter was consensual.
Separately, the New York Times has published a 2018 email from Mr Hegseth’s mother to him in which she calls him an abuser of women and tells him to “take an honest look at yourself”.
When asked about the email in the past week, she withdrew the remarks and said she had sent her son a follow-up email to apologise.
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Mr Hegseth, 44, is a former officer in the National Guard.
His nomination as defence secretary immediately attracted controversy due to previous remarks, in which he said women were not suited to combat roles.
