US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense is accused of chanting “Kill all Muslims” in a drunken rage at a Veterans group event in 2015, in addition to allegations of sexual impropriety and personal misconduct during a separate incident in 2017, according to the New Yorker magazine. According to the report, Pete Hegseth was on a work trip in the state of Ohio on May 29, 2015 for the group Concerned Veterans for America when he allegedly got drunk at the hotel bar and yelled multiple times, “Kill all Muslims!” “We’re not going to comment on outlandish claims laundered through The New Yorker by a petty and jealous disgruntled former associate of Mr. Hegseth’s,” said his attorney Tim Parlatore in response to the New Yorker’s allegations. “Get back to us when you try your first attempt at actual journalism.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), America’s largest Muslim advocacy group, is not taking the claims against Hegseth lightly, urging for Congress to reject his candidacy. “Based on his current views and past actions, it is clear Mr. Hegseth is totally inappropriate as a nominee for secretary of defense,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad in a statement. “Anyone who — even in a drunken state — would call for the slaughter of all members of a faith has disqualified himself from holding an important position that would inevitably interact with representatives of Muslim-majority nations.”

In addition to Hegseth’s alleged Islamophobic remarks, the New Yorker reported that he had been accused of personal misbehaviour, including covertly paying a cash settlement to a woman who accused him of rape in 2017. Despite these revelations, Trump is sticking with his candidate for Secretary of Defence. “President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his administration,” Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement, adding that the former Fox News anchor has not been charged with a crime. Aside from the personal misconduct allegations, the New Yorker presented information about Hegseth’s previous record, which the publication stated raises additional questions about his suitability to lead the world’s largest and most powerful military.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the story on Hegseth’s drinking “alarming and disqualifying,” telling the New Yorker that the committee will thoroughly scrutinize his candidacy. “Much as we might be sympathetic to people with continuing alcohol problems, they shouldn’t be at the top of our national-security structure,” Blumenthal told the audience. “It is risky. The Secretary of Defence is involved in all aspects of national security. He is involved in the use of nuclear weapons. He is the one who recommends sending troops into war. He approves drone strikes that may cause human casualties. The Secretary of Defence is literally in charge of life-or-death situations, and giving these kinds of issues to someone who could be disabled for whatever reason

Blumenthal cited a similar circumstance in 1989, during the George H.W. Bush presidency, when Sen. John Tower, a Republican from Texas, was defeated by the Senate owing to concerns about his drinking and womanizing. “John Tower went down for these same kinds of issues,” Blumenthal remarked. “I don’t think it’s a partisan issue.” Confirmation hearings for Trump’s Cabinet nominees are slated to start during the 119th Congress, which begins on January 3, 2025. A date for Hegseth’s hearing has yet to be announced.