Pete Hegseth Reveals Trump’s Message to Him About Megyn Kelly, Claiming He ‘Will Never Back Down’

Pete Hegseth admitted there is some truth to the damning reports that have cast doubt on whether he will remain Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Defense Department.

The former Fox News host said he received words of encouragement from Trump when they spoke Wednesday morning amid a barrage of news reports with accusations against Hegseth.

From the start, Hegseth was a controversial choice, in part because of his more fringe views, such as saying that women should not serve in combat roles in the military.

But other, more worrying reports have emerged in the past two weeks, including claims of sexual harassment; allegations that he was transported to events on work trips because he was too drunk and regularly drank on the job; and a New York Times report that published a 2018 email from his mother calling Hegseth a “woman abuser.”

Hegseth told Megyn Kelly on her show that there are “kernels of truth.” Some reports claim that they were blown into something that now looked more like a lie.

He also published one op-ed at the Wall Street Journal where he admitted that he sometimes drank some alcohol with other military members “to cope with the reality of what we had experienced in war zones.”

Speaking to Kelly on Wednesday, Hegseth described his conversation with Trump and said he received words of encouragement from the president-elect to continue his Capitol Hill campaign and lobby senators to vote for his confirmation in the new year.

‘He supports me. We talked,” Hegseth said of his conversation with Trump. “He said: you go meet those senators and I will support you.”

Hegseth also wrote in an op-ed about his time at Vets for Freedom: “Like veterans returning from any war, we drank beer to face the reality of what we had experienced. But we never did anything inappropriate and we treated everyone with respect.”

The father of seven also recalled to Kelly how Trump said, “Pete, I have your back. It’s a fight, they’re coming after you. Go after it.’

Kelly asked Hegseth if he felt he received the same media treatment as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation process.

“Not even 45 minutes ago, I had a member privately look me in the eye, just him and me, and say, ‘That’s what they’re trying to do to you.’

”That’s their playbook, prepare for more. And they’re going to make it right, just like they have done so far. All anonymous, all innuendo, all hearsay, nothing sourced, no verification. And they’ll just keep doing it. Because you are a threat to them,” he continued, recalling what a Republican lawmaker told him.

However, Hegseth praised the Trump nominee who was subsequently confirmed: “Kavanaugh stood up, he fought and he won. And hopefully Republicans have learned that lesson.”

“Trump had his back,” he added. ‘What you see with me now is the art of the smear test.’

“Take whatever little kernel of truth you have – and there are very little kernels in there – and blow it up into a masquerade of a story about someone who is definitely not me,” Hegseth concluded.

Some of the most damning reports claim that Hegseth routinely got drunk or drank excessively while working at veterans organizations and while hosting Fox News.

Hegseth was joined by his wife Jennifer Rauchet at rallies on Capitol Hill on December 4, 2024, as he continues to meet with senators and lobby for their confirmation vote next year

Hegseth’s mother Penelope went on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning to counter the New York Times after it published a 2018 email she sent to her son in the midst of his divorce, calling him a “wife abuser”

In the Journal op-ed written Wednesday, Trump’s Pentagon chief acknowledged that he wasn’t always perfect when he helped lead the initiative at Vets for Freedom and that at times he may have had a few too many beers.

“We weren’t perfect, but we were always honest and serious,” he admitted. “We raised money honestly and spent it earnestly – to further our cause. We were not political experts, but patriotic believers.”

“Like veterans returning from any war, we drank beer to face the reality of what we had experienced,” he wrote. “But we never did anything inappropriate and we treated everyone with respect. We had a new mission and we fought for it.”

When Trump told the veteran he would nominate him as the next secretary of defense, Hegseth claimed he told him, “You’re going to have to be tough.”