“Senators Have Shown Up Drunk”: Republican Defends Pentagon Nominee Amid Contentious Hearing

In a heated exchange on CNN’s The Source, host Kaitlan Collins pressed Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) on his strong defense of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense. Hegseth, a Fox News weekend co-host, faced tough scrutiny during his contentious nomination hearing earlier that day.

Mullin stirred controversy with a fiery defense of Hegseth, drawing parallels to the behavior of his Senate colleagues. “Senator starts bringing up the fact, ‘What if you showed up drunk to your job?’ How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night?” Mullin asked, eliciting a smattering of laughter. “Have any of you asked them to step down and resign from their job? And don’t tell me you haven’t seen it because I know you have.”

Collins pressed Mullin to elaborate on his claim, asking if he would name any senators he believed had drunk on the job. Mullin declined. “No, and — my whole point was senators on the other side of the aisle were trying to act like they had more morals than Pete Hegseth. And they don’t. If you’re going to hold someone accountable for their behavior, then hold everybody accountable,” Mullin argued.

Acknowledging his own imperfections, Mullin said, “I’m absolutely not [the most moral man]. But I wasn’t the one calling him out.” He labeled the criticism of Hegseth as “complete hypocrisy,” particularly when it came to personal attacks, such as references to Hegseth’s past adulteries. “There are multiple members of Congress that had affairs on their wives, and they haven’t been called to step down,” Mullin added.

When questioned about Hegseth’s qualifications, Mullin pushed back against critics. “The only requirement is that he’s a U.S. citizen. Other than that, it’s the president’s choice, and the Senate has the right to advise and consent. And he meets the qualifications to be the Secretary of Defense,” he stated.

However, Collins challenged Mullin’s comparison of Hegseth’s behavior to that of sitting senators, suggesting it might concern taxpayers who fund their salaries. “How is the behavior of a sitting senator a defense of someone who wants to run the Pentagon?” she asked.

Mullin conceded that it wasn’t. “What they were saying is he was incapable of doing his job. And Kaitlan, what I was trying to get to is, if you’re capable of doing your job and you’re able to still drink on the job or late in the evening, then don’t tell me that Pete can’t. And Pete had already said he’s not going to drink, but they just kept hammering it.”

The exchange underscored the tensions surrounding Hegseth’s nomination, highlighting the partisan divide in assessing his fitness for the role.