Trump administration nemesis Gavin Newsom suggested Pete Hegseth should take a drug test after the Pentagon chief’s ranting rebuttal of claims about horror conditions on a U.S. warship.
“We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain, has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” an intense Hegseth, 46, told reporters in Panama, referring to the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier on extended deployment near Iran.
The defense secretary’s comments follow reports that several service members tried to jump overboard due to worsening conditions on the ship, including shortages of basic supplies, moldy showers, and long stretches without hot water. Service members’ mental health is also a concern, their family members have said.
“As someone who’s... not been on a ship like that, but been on long deployments, I feel it,” added Hegseth, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan while in the Army.
His answer caught the attention of Newsom, the liberal Trump-bashing governor of California. “He’s delusional, manic, agitated,” he posted on X, highlighting Hegseth’s arm-thrashing display. Suggesting the self-styled ‘Secretary of War’ might be on drugs, Newsom added, “Has Pete Hegseth done a drug test lately? Why are the results not public?”
Hegseth, whose ex-wife confided in the FBI that he “drinks more often than he doesn’t” and whose former Fox News colleagues said he reeked of alcohol before going on air, promised to cut off all booze ahead of his Senate confirmation, which required a Vice President JD Vance tiebreaker.
Hegseth’s candidacy was also marred by a number of other scandals, including multiple sexual assault allegations, infidelities, and a leaked letter written by his mother calling him an “abuser.”
The Department of Defense has been approached for comment.
On Thursday, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego and Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton criticized Hegseth’s comments, too. “I am in communication with a spouse who is forwarding me her husband’s text messages. Stop lying and fix the problem,” Gallego, an Iraq War Marine corporal, responded to Hegseth in a post on X.
A dozen relatives of service members described to MS NOW last week what they had heard about conditions on the ship.
Bonnie York, whose stepson is aboard, said she had been told a doctor or therapist on the ship had warned that the crew needed to reach port before people started “losing their minds.” Brett Snow, a Navy veteran whose son is on the ship, added that the situation is “ripe for accidents.”
In addition to low food supplies and unsanitary showers, family members have described toilets and laundry rooms that have been out of service for weeks and inaccessible.
Stars and Stripes and the Navy Times have also spoken with relatives and sailors themselves about the ordeal.
Stars and Stripes said interviews—along with “dozens of public social media comments and posts” by crew—revealed sailors “struggling with exhaustion and declining morale, including reports of suicidal thoughts and at least one instance where a crew member was prevented from jumping overboard.”
The USS Abraham Lincoln, which is carrying 5,000 sailors and Marines who had expected to be off the ship by May, is being relieved by the USS George Washington, CNN reported.
