Hegseth promises to stop drinking if confirmed, GOP senators say
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary, said on Wednesday he would not "back down" as new misconduct allegations cause growing concern among Republican senators tasked with whether to confirm him.
Going public in his own defense, Hegseth also directly addressed several of the accusations for the first time in an interview with Megyn Kelly. He denied many of the claims he mistreated women and pushed back on reports he was forced out from two veterans' nonprofit groups.
He's also promised senators he's stopped drinking and won't drink if confirmed, according to Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt. Some of the misconduct accusations included claims he has been drunk in public.
"He offered up to me, and I know he has with other senators too, that he's not drinking, and that's not something he's going to do when confirmed here," Schmitt said a day after meeting with Hegseth.
Sen. Roger Wicker, the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which would vote to send Hegseth's nomination to the full Senate, affirmed that Hegseth committed to not drinking if he was confirmed.
"The allegation was made about him being intoxicated at several times and so the questions that every member will be asking him led to his statement," Wicker said.
Pressed to confirm Hegseth told him he would stop drinking altogether, Wicker replied, "That's right, that's exactly right."
North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer said he was encouraged by Hegseth's pledge in their private meeting Wednesday to abstain from alcohol as defense secretary.
"He said, 'My commitment is to not touch alcohol while I have this position,'" said Cramer, who lost a son to alcohol addiction in 2018.
"I said, 'It's really important that we have a clear-eyed secretary of defense if the phone rings at 3 in the morning.'" Cramer said. He said Hegseth replied that he would be clear-eyed at "3 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon, and every hour in between."
Cramer said Hegseth told him there were times when he "drank too much, but never times that I drank too much and anything improper happened."
Hegseth said he spoke with Trump earlier on Wednesday, and said the president-elect told him: "Keep going, keep fighting. I'm behind you all the way."
The comments come as a number of senators -- at least six -- have privately signaled they are not inclined to vote for him, leading Trump's advisers to begin discussing who may be a viable replacement, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Multiple sources also told ABC News that Trump and Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke about the job Tuesday and DeSantis expressed interest in it. Other possible candidates include Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Tennessee Gov. Bill Hagerty, said sources familiar with private discussions.
As he walked with his wife through the Capitol for a third day of sit-downs with GOP lawmakers, Hegseth was peppered with questions from reporters asking if he's committed to remaining in the running. He replied, "Why would I back down? I've always been a fighter. I'm here for the war fighters. This is personal and passionate for me."
Hegseth met with Ernst on Wednesday afternoon. Ernst briefly spoke with reporters after, calling it a "throughout conversation."
Asked by ABC's Jay O'Brien if Hegseth alleviated any of her concerns, Ernst did not respond.
When pressed if there's any chance she was being considered to replace Hegseth, Ernst responded: "Mr. Hegseth is the nominee."
Shortly after he was tapped by Trump to lead the Pentagon, it was reported that Hegseth had paid a settlement agreement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017.
Over the weekend, the New Yorker, citing what it called a detailed seven-page whistleblower report, said Hegseth was forced to step down from two veterans' nonprofit groups amid accusations of financial mismanagement, sexist behavior and other disqualifying conduct. ABC News has not independently confirmed the magazine's account.
Hegseth denied most of the allegations against him as Kelly went through them.
He flatly denied the 2017 sexual assault allegation, saying he paid a settlement to protect his wife and career.
He pushed back on reports he was forced out of the veterans' groups, though he didn't dispute mismanaging funds at Veterans for Freedom, blaming it on being an "amateur."
"Am I a perfect man? No, was I a perfect man? Absolutely not," Hegseth said. "Do I regret those things? Yes. But is it who I am today? No, and I'm just grateful for the grace of God that gives me a new chapter."
Hegseth's lawyer Tim Parlatore told CNN on Wednesday his client was looking forward to doing an FBI background check.
"He knows, as I know, that FBI investigators are professionals. They're going to go through this. They're going to not just take a few anonymous complaints and put that in the report. They're going to try and corroborate it," Parlatore said. "The FBI background check is going to exonerate him of the vast majority of these claims, and so he's very much looking forward to that."
Parlatore claimed that while Hegseth isn't an "angel" and that he has partied "a bit," the onslaught of allegations coming out against him are because people are "threatened" by changes he would bring to the Pentagon.
His mother, Penelope Hegseth, also offered a defense of her son on "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday morning.
She sent an email to her son in 2018 amid his divorce in which she wrote that he was an "abuser of women." The email was reported by the New York Times. ABC News has not independently obtained the email.
Penelope Hegseth on Wednesday said her son was a "changed" man and that the email was written in "haste" during a "very emotional time." She said that she "retracted it with an apology email" just hours after she sent it, and that she and her son are "very close today."
Penelope Hegseth, imploring senators to listen to his account, also said she believed her son was "the man for the job."
Hegseth told Kelly he was still confident he'll be confirmed but said if he isn't, he'll know "I did everything I could in this process."
"So, we don't know precisely how this is all going to play out. I'm going to go up on Capitol Hill, meet with all these senators, keep working hard, try to earn votes, respect the process," he said.
ABC News' Rick Klein, Rachel Scott, Ivan Pereira and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
