On Sunday morning CNN's Jake Tapper corrected a GOP lawmaker who tried to dismiss a video of Fox News personality Pete Hegseth boasting about drinking beer first thing in the morning as perfectly normal behavior.
During an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) was shown two clips of Donald Trump's embattled nominee to be secretary of defense in which the former Fox News host claimed he has never had a "drinking problem," and then, in the subsequent video, stating, "After returning from Iraq, I'd look around at 10:00, I'd be like, what am I going to do today? How about I drink some beers? How about I go have lunch and have some beers?" before later adding, "One beer leads to many leads to self-medication, leads to 'I've earned this'."
"How do you reconcile that with him now claiming that he's never had an issue with alcohol," host Tapper asked his guest.
ALSO READ: The Medicare Advantage trap: What they don’t tell you
"Jake, that wasn't him saying he had an alcohol problem, that was him being honest," Mullin attempted. "Unfortunately, a lot of our combat vets have come back and faced the same thing that they're sitting there and that was 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've had a lot of experiences that the regular population doesn't."
"For the media to go after him and start describing that as a drinking problem is individuals that doesn't understand combat veterans because they've never been there, they've never been in combat, they've never seen the horrific stuff that comes by. That they've never tasted the dirt in their mouths. They've never heard the horrible sounds in their ears, they never had the sights that they can't get rid of, they've never had the dreams in the middle of the night," he added. "And I think it's hypocritical for them to even question that now. 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."
"So I have done a lot of coverage of veterans and a lot of coverage of combat," the CNN host replied. "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 ten in the morning, that's a drinking problem. Now that doesn't mean there should be a stigma ––."
"There's a lot of politicians that have a drinking problem, Jake," Mullin interrupted. "And then there's probably a lot of media that has a drinking problem too. Now I don't drink, I've never, I haven't, well, I haven't tasted alcohol in many, many, many years and, and never have drank 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."
Watch below or at the link.
- YouTube youtu.be
