GOP Senator Markwayne Mullin twisted himself in knots trying to defend Pete Hegseth, after recent reporting that he has a drinking problem on top of all the other reasons he’s not fit to serve as Secretary of Defense.
Mullin made an appearance on this Sunday’s State of the Union on CNN, and after Tapper talked about a group attacking Sen. Joni Ernst over her hesitation to confirm Hegseth, Tapper asked Mullin what he thought about a number of his fellow Republican senators who have expressed concern over Hegseth’s drinking.
Tapper played a portion of Hegseth’s interview with Megyn Kelly, where he denied ever having a drinking problem, before playing another clip where he basically admitted having a problem with alcohol after returning from serving in Iraq.
” It seems to be in that Will Cain clip that he’s describing having a drinking problem,” Tapper noted. “How do you reconcile that with him now claiming that he’s never had an issue with alcohol?”
“Jake, that wasn’t him saying he had an alcohol problem. That was him being honest,” Mullin replied. “Unfortunately, a lot of our combat vets have come back and faced the same thing. They’re sitting there and they were — they had their identity in the service. They had a job to do. They were responsible for certain things and they get out of the service and they’re back and they’re sitting there twiddling their thumbs.
They have had a lot of experiences that the regular — regular population doesn’t. They have these memories, these thoughts, these sounds, the smells that are still coming back to them, and they turn to drinking with their buddies.
That doesn’t mean that they had a drinking problem. That means that every combat veteran has had the same issues. That’s why they have VFWs set up. That’s why they have American Legions set up. What he was describing is what most combat veterans have faced.”
Which was followed by Mullin attacking the media and trying to “both sides” the issue, which Tapper was having none of.
MULLIN: And for the media to go after him and start describing that as a drinking problem is individuals that don’t understand combat veterans because they have never been there. They have never been in combat. They have never seen the horrific stuff that comes by that. They have never tasted the dirt in their mouth. They have never heard the horrible sounds in their ears.
They have never had the sights that they can’t get rid of. They have never had the dreams in the middle of the night. And I think it’s hypocritical for them to even question that.
Now, if he did have a drinking problem, that would be obvious. But to make something out of it that isn’t there just because he’s going through secretary of defense, the media should be ashamed of themselves. They should put themselves in their shoes and every other combat veteran’s shoes before they go out there and criticize him.
TAPPER: So I have done a lot of coverage of veterans and a lot of coverage of combat. And while I have never worn the uniform, I think I do have an understanding of the need of our valiant troops when they come home to self-medicate.
What I’m saying is, when you’re talking about drinking at 10:00 in the morning, that’s a drinking problem. Now, it doesn’t mean that there should be a stigma.
(CROSSTALK)
MULLIN: Well, then there’s a lot of politicians that have a drinking problem, Jake.
TAPPER: Yes, of course.
But I guess my question is…;
MULLIN: Yes, and then there’s probably a lot of media that has a drinking problem too. And, now, I don’t drink. I have never — I haven’t tasted alcohol in many, many, many years. And I never had a drink at all in my life, really.
And so I really don’t understand that. But there’s a lot of alcohol that flows through Washington, D.C., on a regular basis. And I wouldn’t say that people are alcoholics or they have a drinking problem because of that. I don’t see it at all.
I don’t see that being a problem. And I really wish that the media would move on and start focusing on what he can bring to the secretary — as secretary of defense, because he has a lot of good attributes too, but we only focus on the negative.
And we get so caught up on running at negatives. And just because he’s on this side of the confirmation process, it seems like everybody wants to point out everybody’s faults. Yes, he has a past. Jake, you and I both have a past, and our listeners have a past too. And we get that. He’s not hiding from his past.
He’s answering the questions of his past. That doesn’t disqualify him from being secretary of defense, though.
TAPPER: Part of the process is Republican senators and people in the media and Democratic senators and anyone asking questions about the person’s qualifications and about the appropriateness of an individual.
And a drunk reporter who’s drinking at 10:00 a.m., for whatever reason, is not in charge of the three-million-person Defense Department. And so there is a difference.
