Molly Butler / Media Matters

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Amid reports of misconduct, some Fox News personalities are lining up to support Pete Hegseth

But other Fox colleagues are reportedly confirming similar allegations

Written by Chloe Simon & Reed McMaster

Published

Last month, President-elect Donald Trump chose Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be his secretary of defense. Following the announcement, news outlets reported on multiple allegations of misconduct by Hegseth, including sexual assault and financial mismanagement. Some of the allegations were made by Hegseth's former colleagues at Fox News. 

While Fox News largely failed to report the details of the allegations, a number of Fox News and Fox Business staffers have defended Hegseth. Some, including Fox Business host Larry Kudlow and Fox News host Emily Compagno, have framed him as a victim of a witch hunt and compared him to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was publicly accused of sexual assault by three women during his confirmation hearings. 

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  • Since Trump picked Hegseth to lead the DOD, multiple reports have alleged he engaged in sexual and other misconduct, which Fox has largely ignored

    • On November 13, Trump announced Hegseth as his nominee for secretary of defense, overseeing the Pentagon. AP News reported that the pick “stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world” and that he is “largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage.” [AP News, 11/13/24]
    • Since Hegseth was tapped to lead the Defense Department, reports have shared allegations of sexual assault, heavy drinking, and financial mismanagement. Hegseth reportedly “paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault in order to prevent her from filing a lawsuit that could damage his career.” He reportedly stepped down from running two nonprofits – Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America – due to allegations of “financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.” Some Fox News employees have claimed Hegseth drank concerningly and they could at times smell “alcohol on him before he went on air.” There have also been concerns about two of Hegseth’s tattoos whose design and language have been associated with white supremacist groups. [NPR, 11/18/24; The New Yorker, 12/1/24; NBC, 12/3/24; AP News, 11/15/24]
    • CNN’s Brian Stelter reported early December 3 that Fox “has not covered the past week’s controversies involving President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary.” Stelter added, “It’s far from the first time Fox and other friendly pro-Trump spaces have outright ignored or distracted their audience from an unflattering story.” He also pointed out that “almost all of the recent mentions of Hegseth on Fox have been supportive or sympathetic.” [CNN, 12/3/24; Media Matters, 12/4/24]

  • Some of the allegations about Hegseth have come from his Fox colleagues

    • Ten current and former Fox News employees told NBC News that Hegseth “drank in ways that concerned” them. NBC reported: “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.” One source told NBC they “smelled alcohol on him as recently as last month and heard him complain about being hungover this fall.” [NBC News, 12/3/24]
    • A former colleague at Fox News told NPR that “Hegseth got ‘handsy’ repeatedly while inebriated, once even groping her bottom at a Manhattan bar.” [NPR, 12/4/24]

  • Fox personalities have defended Hegseth, casting doubt on reports of sexual assault and other allegations

    • Fox Business host Lisa Boothe suggested that the reports are “unreasonable lies that defy logic and common sense.” She rhetorically asked: “If he’s guilty of the things he is being accused, then why didn't the police charge him?” [Fox News, Faulkner Focus, 11/25/24]
    • Fox News host Mark Levin posted that the “Holocaust denying New York Slimes has sunk to new low levels in trying to derail Pete Hegseth as SecDef. They’re trying to Thomas-Kavanaugh him.” Levin continued, “We must stand strong with Pete. They don’t want him because he threatens their hold on power and would be an effective SecDef.” [Twitter/X, 12/1/24]
    • Fox Business host Larry Kudlow accused Democrats and media of “false sex smearing” of Hegseth and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). He ranted, “This is what the Democratic liberal media does. It is called false sex smearing, OK? In this case they’re going after Matt Gaetz, they’re going after Pete Hegseth, they hate every single cabinet [pick]. You know, it's like a chorus. ‘This one’s terrible. Oh wait a minute — this new one’s worse. No, no, wait a minute — this new latest one is absolutely worse. Right? One after another, they’re all worse. And it’s a bunch of smearing.” [Fox Business, Kudlow Weekend, 11/23/24]
    • Kudlow suggested Hegseth is the victim of lawyers who “just happen to be Democrats” who “find women, the ‘Me Too’ movement.” He ranted, “With Pete Hegseth, the charges thrown at Hegseth were settled years ago. Nothing happened. In fact, if anything, Hegseth was attacked. But, you know, lawyers crop up, they just happen to be Democrats. Lawyers find reasons, they find women, the ‘Me too’ movement – nothing ever happened. Now all of a sudden The Washington Post is running the stories gleefully about Hegseth. There is no finer person than Pete Hegseth. I know him.” He also claimed, “Hegseth is as good a citizen as you’re going to get.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 11/19/24]
    • Fox News host Laura Ingraham referred to the sexual assault reports as “nasty politics.” Ingraham later said that Trump “has stuck by his people and he has been subject to similar, you know, accusations,” adding, “It is an ugly, ugly process, but, you know, transparency ultimately probably will win out here.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 11/15/24]
    • In a discussion about Hegseth, Fox News host Emily Compagno said that “we will not succumb to the left’s playbook, we will not succumb to ‘Kavanaugh’ becoming a verb in that the left likes to wield the media and a very public witch hunt to thwart the possibility for actual success.” She then wished Hegseth “nothing but success” with the confirmation process. Co-host Lawrence Jones also said, “We cannot allow them to Kavanaugh Pete.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 12/4/24]
    • Hegseth’s former Fox co-host Will Cain compiled a thread on X (formerly Twitter) of current and former Fox News employees publicly vouching for Hegseth and denying the misconduct reports about him. Hegseth’s other co-host, Rachel Campos-Duffy, contributed to the thread, calling NBC’s report about alleged alcohol abuse “horseshit” and calling for NBC to retract or correct its story. [Twitter/X, 12/3/24, 12/3/24]