1 00:00:01,233 --> 00:00:03,233 GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour." 2 00:00:03,233 --> 00:00:06,300 A buried whistle-blower report has come to light raising fresh concerns about the 3 00:00:06,300 --> 00:00:09,900 fitness of president-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon. 4 00:00:09,900 --> 00:00:13,266 AMNA NAWAZ: Former FOX News host and defense secretary-delegate 5 00:00:13,266 --> 00:00:18,266 Pete Hegseth was on Capitol Hill today. 6 00:00:24,166 --> 00:00:26,133 QUESTION: Misspent funds, mistreatment of women, 7 00:00:26,133 --> 00:00:28,100 intoxicated on the job, do you have any comment about that reporting at all? 8 00:00:28,100 --> 00:00:30,133 AMNA NAWAZ: He refused to answer media questions while meeting with Alabama 9 00:00:30,133 --> 00:00:32,433 Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville ahead of a potential confirmation battle next year. 10 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:37,100 "The New Yorker"'s Jane Mayer investigated Hegseth's time leading two nonprofits 11 00:00:37,100 --> 00:00:41,733 for military veterans and uncovered allegations of financial mismanagement, 12 00:00:41,733 --> 00:00:45,666 sexual impropriety and personal misconduct. She joins us now. 13 00:00:45,666 --> 00:00:48,400 Jane, it's good to see you. Thanks for being with us. 14 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,600 JANE MAYER, "The New Yorker": Thanks for having me. 15 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,966 AMNA NAWAZ: So, you reviewed documents. You also spoke with Hegseth's former colleagues 16 00:00:53,966 --> 00:00:58,933 at these groups that he ran. What kind of picture did they paint of Hegseth as a leader? 17 00:01:01,666 --> 00:01:06,666 JANE MAYER: It really was a picture that was, I would say, increasingly alarming in some ways. 18 00:01:08,733 --> 00:01:13,733 It was a picture of a leader who was pushed out of his leadership positions in two groups that 19 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:20,133 were for veterans because there were so many concerns about his financial mismanagement 20 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:26,133 and his personal conduct. So -- and these were relatively small groups with relatively small 21 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:33,800 budgets. And the first group had only 10 people working at it, Veterans for Freedom. 22 00:01:35,866 --> 00:01:39,733 And it raised a lot of questions about how he would manage the largest department in the 23 00:01:41,466 --> 00:01:46,433 federal government, the most lethal and largest military in the world. 24 00:01:48,300 --> 00:01:50,466 AMNA NAWAZ: Jane, there's also specific allegations of alcohol abuse, 25 00:01:50,466 --> 00:01:54,033 some stories and anecdotes you relate people telling you about Hegseth getting 26 00:01:54,033 --> 00:01:57,933 so drunk he had to be restrained or carried back to his hotel room. 27 00:01:57,933 --> 00:02:01,933 There's one incident from May of 2015, when he's on official business traveling 28 00:02:01,933 --> 00:02:05,633 in Ohio. He and someone else from the organization gets so drunk, 29 00:02:05,633 --> 00:02:09,333 they're chanting and yelling at the hotel bar. What happens there? 30 00:02:09,333 --> 00:02:13,333 JANE MAYER: Yes, I mean, this comes from a letter that was written by a member of the organization, 31 00:02:13,333 --> 00:02:18,000 this veterans group called Concern Veterans for America, which Hegseth was leading at the time. 32 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:23,000 And this member of it wrote a letter to the managers there, saying that Hegseth's 33 00:02:25,100 --> 00:02:28,900 behavior was despicable and embarrassing, because what he did was, he ended up closing 34 00:02:28,900 --> 00:02:33,900 down the bar at 2:30 in the morning, chanting and screaming: "Kill all Muslims. Kill all Muslims." 35 00:02:35,833 --> 00:02:40,700 And it was just so completely beyond the pale really for the veterans that worked 36 00:02:43,033 --> 00:02:48,033 in this group. And so -- and I think maybe alarming also to think about 37 00:02:50,166 --> 00:02:53,466 someone leading the Pentagon who has voiced such attitudes and been so out of control. 38 00:02:55,500 --> 00:02:58,233 AMNA NAWAZ: In your piece, you also quote Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, 39 00:02:58,233 --> 00:03:02,433 who says: "Much as we might be sympathetic to people with continuing alcohol problems, 40 00:03:02,433 --> 00:03:05,900 they shouldn't be at the top of our national security structure." 41 00:03:05,900 --> 00:03:09,666 Jane, from your reporting, do we know if any of Mr. Hegseth's 42 00:03:09,666 --> 00:03:14,133 reported issues with alcohol persist to this day? 43 00:03:14,133 --> 00:03:17,600 JANE MAYER: I mean, I think it's a very good question you as. And 44 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:22,600 "The New Yorker" submitted many questions to Mr. Hegseth and to his lawyer and gave him 45 00:03:24,266 --> 00:03:28,733 two days to answer them. And instead of answering any of the questions or 46 00:03:28,733 --> 00:03:32,866 refuting anything in the story, they just said they would have no comment. 47 00:03:32,866 --> 00:03:37,866 So, obviously, this is of utmost importance. We need to know whether someone who might be the 48 00:03:39,666 --> 00:03:44,066 top person in the Defense Department has a very serious alcohol problem. 49 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:48,900 AMNA NAWAZ: Jane, there's also now a body of reporting looking into Hegseth's personal story 50 00:03:48,900 --> 00:03:53,233 as well, multiple marriages and infidelities that have been documented, also troubling 51 00:03:53,233 --> 00:03:58,233 details from a police report related to a sexual assault allegation back in 2017. 52 00:04:00,233 --> 00:04:03,900 This weekend, "The New York Times" also published an e-mail from his mother in 2018, 53 00:04:03,900 --> 00:04:07,866 in which she says in part: "On behalf of all the women, and I know it's many, 54 00:04:07,866 --> 00:04:12,866 you have abused in some way, I say get some help and take an honest look at yourself." 55 00:04:14,166 --> 00:04:15,633 We should note that his mother has since disavowed 56 00:04:15,633 --> 00:04:17,933 those comments in speaking with "The New York Times." 57 00:04:17,933 --> 00:04:22,400 But, Jane, what does your reporting show about any of this as a pattern 58 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:27,400 of behavior and also that sexual assault allegation from 2017? 59 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:30,800 JANE MAYER: Well, I mean, we have to say, of course, 60 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,900 that he has denied sexually assaulting this woman. She's anonymous at this point. 61 00:04:37,033 --> 00:04:40,266 But the thing that has brought much attention to this is that he failed to disclose to the 62 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,900 transition staff that he had secretly struck up a settlement with this woman and has 63 00:04:48,166 --> 00:04:51,866 been paying her and that they also struck up a nondisclosure agreement to try to keep it secret. 64 00:04:53,900 --> 00:04:58,400 And so the Trump administration has decided not to have the FBI investigate potential 65 00:05:00,633 --> 00:05:05,333 Cabinet officers. So they didn't have the FBI doing a background check. And Pete Hegseth 66 00:05:05,333 --> 00:05:10,333 never told the transition staff that this was in his background. It just came up because a friend 67 00:05:12,433 --> 00:05:15,600 of the woman's actually went to the transition team and said, did you realize this about him? 68 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:20,600 So these tales from the past in his life just seem to be surfacing one by one by one. 69 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:26,833 AMNA NAWAZ: Jane, the Trump team was reportedly blindsided 70 00:05:26,833 --> 00:05:29,233 by some of the recent reporting about Hegseth. 71 00:05:29,233 --> 00:05:34,233 From your sources, does it seem like all the potentially damaging allegations are now out 72 00:05:36,266 --> 00:05:40,133 in the open, that everything that senators need to weigh is out there and reported? 73 00:05:40,133 --> 00:05:43,700 JANE MAYER: No, I actually don't think so, because, just today -- I mean, this story came 74 00:05:43,700 --> 00:05:48,700 out in "The New Yorker" just around midnight last night. And, by today, people have been 75 00:05:51,700 --> 00:05:56,700 calling me all day long with more examples of this kind of behavior from Pete Hegseth. 76 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:03,100 So, I don't think we really, truly know the whole story yet. 77 00:06:03,100 --> 00:06:05,733 AMNA NAWAZ: That is Jane Mayer of "The New Yorker" joining us tonight. 78 00:06:05,733 --> 00:06:07,566 Jane, thank you. Good to see you. 79 00:06:07,566 --> 00:06:09,900 JANE MAYER: Thanks so much for having me.