Pod Save America host makes shock accusation about Pete Hegseth during Fox News fracas

The segment devolved into a shouting match.

PUBLISHED MAR 29, 2025

Clay Travis immediately pushed back, calling the claim "untrue", but Tommy Vietor doubled down.

Washington D.C.: A fiery debate on Fox News spiraled into chaos after Pod Save America co-host Tommy Vietor defended Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies before speculating if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of being drunk while handling classified information.

The clash occurred during a segment featuring Vietor, a former Obama White House spokesperson, and conservative commentator Clay Travis. The discussion initially centered on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s recent remarks that Democrats had not embraced DEI and "wokeness" strongly enough in the 2024 campaign. But Vietor quickly pivoted to attack Hegseth, who has faced scrutiny over leaked Signal messages containing sensitive military details.

Tommy Vietor quickly pivoted to attack Hegseth, who has faced scrutiny over leaked Signal messages containing sensitive military details.

"Let me tell you who would not have put classified information about the Houthi bombing campaign in a Signal group chat—General CQ Brown, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, before Pete Hegseth fired him," Vietor said, referencing Trump’s dismissal of Brown over accusations of promoting "woke" policies in the military.

Vietor then dropped a bombshell: "America doesn’t have a DEI problem right now. We have a competency problem because we have a Fox News Weekend anchor named Pete Hegseth, who—you tell me—may or may not have been tipsy at the time he was sending around this classified information."

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Travis immediately pushed back, calling the claim "untrue", but Vietor doubled down, insisting Hegseth had endangered service members by "breaking all the rules". The segment devolved into shouting as Travis blamed the Biden administration for the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle and former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s secret hospitalization. Host Carley Heinrich cut Vietor off, declaring Democrats had "nothing new to talk about".

During a contentious House hearing this week, Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) pressed intelligence officials on whether Hegseth had been drinking before the Signal leak.

"To your knowledge, was Secretary Hegseth drinking when he shared classified information?" Gomez asked. Former CIA Director John Ratcliffe angrily dismissed the question as "offensive", but Gomez argued it was a legitimate concern, citing past reports of Hegseth’s alleged intoxication while on air at Fox News.

Hegseth, who vowed to quit drinking upon becoming Defense Secretary, has faced multiple reports about his behavior.