Pete Hegseth Defended by Republican Senator in Back-and-Forth With Kaitlan Collins: 'You're Able to Still Drink on the Job — Don't Tell Me That Pete Can't'

Republican Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin defended Pete Hegseth, whom President-elect Donald Trump has nominated as Secretary of Defense, during a recent sit-down with CNN host Kaitlan Collins.

Hegseth's Senate confirmation hearing occurred on Tuesday, January 14, where Democrats grilled him on shocking allegations made against him.

Among accusations of sexual assault and cheating on ex-wives, Hegseth was also accused of drinking on the job during his tenure on Fox News. However, Mullin defended the Trump nominee by claiming unnamed senators "have shown up drunk to vote at night."

Hours later, Mullin appeared on CNN’s The Source, where Collins told him, "I was in that room today. And when you said that, I guess the thought that went through my head was, if what you’re saying is true and your colleagues do show up drinking to come to work and vote, which I think would maybe be concerning to those taxpayers who pay them, how is the bad behavior of a sitting senator a defense of someone who wants to run the Pentagon?"

The senator answered, "It's not ... 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 would just— they just kept hammering it," he added.

Mullin went on to refer to Hegseth as a U.S. Army combat veteran who is qualified to run the Pentagon.

Collins pushed back at the Oklahoma Republican's comments by laying out a small sample of Hegseth's alcohol-related charges.

"I mean, it wasn’t just that he had a glass of wine," she explained. "There were allegations from his former colleagues about him going out to strip clubs, having to be escorted out of parties because he had too much to drink. He denied that. But I’m just saying those were the allegations. It wasn’t just that he was seen at Cafe Milano."

The senator responded by claiming that no accusations were made by people on the record.

"I haven’t seen the names," he told Collins. "Pete has been adamant from day one that that is an outright lie. Now, if no one’s willing to put their name on it and no one’s willing to come forth on it, and believe me, they had plenty of time to come forth, they’ve all known this, then all it is is a smear campaign. And that’s exactly what it was."

During the confirmation hearing, several Democrats, including Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, said Hegseth lacks "the character and the competence" to lead the Defense Department.

Reed said he has voted to confirm the nine previous defense secretaries, including in Trump’s first term, but will not support Hegseth.

He claimed the former conservative news host's confirmation would be "an insult to the men and women who have sworn to uphold their own apolitical duty to the Constitution."