Pete Hegseth pleads with House Republicans to go public in his defense
www.axios.com

... Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth asked House conservatives on Wednesday to publicly back his confirmation, sources in the room told Axios.

Why it matters: Hegseth's request for conservatives to publicly back him comes as his nomination appears on shakier ground, with multiple GOP senators sharing concerns about misconduct allegations.

- - - The former Fox News host indicated to Republican Study Committee members that President-elect Trump remains fully behind him.

- - - "Someone asked how we can help from the House and he said to talk about how President Trump won overwhelmingly, this is a mandate from the people. He would appreciate any public support from members," one source in the room said.

- - - Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) attended the meeting alongside members of the conservative House caucus.

Inside the room: Hegseth " who attended the meeting for roughly 30 minutes " argued that "Trump told him when he picked him- he's tough, he's aggressive, he's gonna kick the doors in" and made the case the allegations against him are unsubstantiated, sources told Axios.

- - - Mullin took to the mics to praise Hegseth during the meeting, telling the room "Trump is 100% behind Pete and that Pete and his wife are handling the onslaught well," and alleging "this is an assault on your [Hegseth's] family." ...

Pete Hegseth's drinking worried colleagues at Fox News, sources tell NBC News
www.nbcnews.com

... ete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary, drank in ways that concerned his colleagues at Fox News, according to 10 current and former Fox employees who spoke with NBC News.

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. Those same two people, plus another, said that during his time there he appeared on television after they'd heard him talk about being hungover as he was getting ready or on set.

One of the sources said they smelled alcohol on him as recently as last month and heard him complain about being hungover this fall.

None of the sources with whom NBC News has spoken could recall an instance when Hegseth missed a scheduled appearance because he'd been drinking. ...

This account of Hegseth's time at Fox News is based on NBC News interviews with three current and seven former Fox employees, all of whom asked not to be named because of fear of retaliation.

Three current employees said his drinking remained a concern up until Trump announced him as his choice to run the Pentagon, at which point Hegseth left Fox.

"He's such a charming guy, but he just acted like the rules didn't apply to him," one of the former employees said. ...

One current and two former Fox employees said they felt like they needed to "babysit" Hegseth because of his drinking and late nights. "We'd have to call him to make sure he didn't oversleep because we knew he'd be out partying the night before," one of them said. Another said, "Morning TV is stressful, and more times than not Pete made it even more stressful." ...