Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is once again under scrutiny after a clip went viral on social media showing Sen. Mark Kelly questioning him during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. At the time, Hegseth was President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense.
Mark Kelly grilled Pete Hegseth over his ability to oversee an agency with nearly 3 million military and civilian employees. The 61-year-old Democrat, a retired astronaut and former naval officer, has served as Arizona’s senior U.S. senator since 2020. During the hearing, Kelly questioned Hegseth’s judgment and discipline to lead the department under the Trump administration.
According to The Atlanta Black Star, Kelly walked Hegseth through a series of allegations related to his tenure at Concerned Veterans for America, asking him to respond to each claim with a simple “true” or “false.”
“I’m going to go through a few of them, and I just want you to tell me if these are true or false. Very simple,” Kelly said. He began by citing an alleged incident at a Memorial Day event in Virginia in 2014, where Hegseth was accused of being intoxicated and needing assistance to leave.
Tonight, we learned the Pentagon is escalating its review of me into “an official command investigation.”
If Donald Trump or Pete Hegseth think they can stop me from doing my job and serving the American people, they’ve got the wrong guy. pic.twitter.com/wjKVr37vby
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) December 16, 2025
“On Memorial Day 2014, at a CVA event in Virginia, you needed to be carried out of the event for being intoxicated.” While he deflected the question, Hegseth responded with the same phrase he would use repeatedly throughout the conversation. Next, Kelly asked whether he was drunk in North Carolina in front of three women, breaking a no-alcohol policy.
Once more, Hegseth offered the same response. The questioning then escalated to include an alleged incident involving a strip club visit during official travel in Louisiana and whether a financial settlement was later reached with a female staff member related to the incident.
“Absolutely not,” Hegseth said, before again calling the claims “anonymous smears.” He added that he had no knowledge of how the matter was handled.
Mark Kelly, known for his strict work ethic, claimed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has refused to tell the truth and that this could lead to detrimental consequences.
“It’s clear to me that you’re not being honest with us, the American people, because you know the truth would disqualify you from getting the job,” Kelly added.
The clip ignited a wave of mocking comments suggesting that Hegseth was avoiding accountability because of potential legal consequences. “He’s an alcoholic and can’t admit it,” one user wrote on Threads. “Is he drunk now… that’s a weird way to say false,” another added.
In November, Mark Kelly and five colleagues appeared in a separate video urging service members to refuse unlawful orders. Trump responded with a series of posts on Truth Social, accusing the lawmakers of “seditious behavior.”
Hegseth later slammed the video as “reckless,” alleging that it undermined military discipline. He also called for an official investigation into Kelly’s retirement from the Navy in 2011. Kelly later dismissed the criticism, calling it “purely performative.”
According to NPR, Hegseth was selected by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Defense and cleared the Senate Armed Services Committee on a party-line vote. However, during the process, Danielle Hegseth, his former sister-in-law, filed an affidavit alleging that he was unfit to hold office.
Pete Hegseth’s former sister-in-law alleged that his ex-wife Samantha was so terrified of him that she had an escape plan in place in case she needed to flee. pic.twitter.com/Pic4iIDYz5
— Becky (@BeckyMa45093796) October 23, 2025
She alleged that Hegseth’s ex-wife, Samantha, feared for her safety during their marriage, at times hiding in a closet and developing a coded text system to signal when she needed help. In addition, Danielle claimed she found Hegseth intoxicated several times, including one incident in which he allegedly passed out during a holiday gathering.
He had allegedly yelled at her and created a threatening situation while under the influence of alcohol. Yet the secretary’s legal team dismissed all the claims.
Samantha Hegseth, in a brief statement to NBC, said there was no physical abuse during the marriage, which lasted from 2010–2017. He has been married to former Fox News producer Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth since 2019.
