Some former coworkers expressed concern about Pete Hegseth’s drinking while he was employed at Fox News. The president of South Korea is being impeached after he imposed martial law. Additionally, a recent study demonstrates the advantages of even brief exercise for women.
What to know today is as follows.
Pete Hegseth s drinking worried colleagues at Fox News, sources say
Ten current and former Fox News employees said that Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for defense secretary, drank in ways that worried his coworkers. The disclosures coincide with mounting doubts about his confirmation by the Senate.
Among the accusations are:
Two witnesses claim that they smelt alcohol on Hegseth before he went on television more than a dozen times while he was co-hosting Fox & Friends Weekend.
Due of Hegseth’s drinking and late nights, two Fox employees, one of whom is currently employed, said they felt compelled to watch after him.
Hegseth departed Fox after Trump named him his choice to lead the Pentagon, according to three current employees who said Hegseth’s drinking continued to be a problem.
None of the sources could remember a time when Hegseth had been drinking and missed a planned appearance.
A spokesman for the Trump transition team described the accusations as wholly baseless and untrue.
The former coworkers’ accounts of Hegseth’s conduct when working at Fox News cast doubt on his capacity to perform the 24-hour tasks required to oversee the Pentagon and its 3 million civilian and military staff. In addition to working around the clock, a secretary of defense may have to respond to an unexpected crisis that occurs on a weekend or at night.
Concerns over Hegseth’s drinking at two positions he held at nonprofit veterans organizations prior to joining Fox were highlighted by The New Yorker last weekend. In 2017, Hegseth was also the focus of a California sexual assault probe.
Republicans are becoming more and more alarmed by the accusations, and Hegseth’s Senate confirmation seems to be in jeopardy. According to three GOP sources, up to six Senate Republicans—possibly more—do not feel comfortable endorsing Hegseth’s candidacy to head the Pentagon. Assuming all Democrats vote against him, Hegseth can afford to lose just three GOP votes in the upcoming Congress due to Republicans’ thin Senate majority.
Go here to read the entire story.
Read more Trump transition and politics coverage:
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Chad Chronister, Trump s selection to lead the DEA,
has withdrawn from consideration
, citing the gravity of the post and dedication to his ongoing work as sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida.
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None of Trump s children will have roles
in his next administration, according to sources familiar with the family dynamic. But they will remain influential in his orbit.
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Trump s lawyers asked for his hush money case
to be dismissed
, citing President Joe Biden s pardon of Hunter Biden.
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In his column this week, NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd calls Biden s pardon Shakespearean, tragic on so many levels and a huge mistake.
Read the full analysis here.
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Trump transition officials are exploring the possibility of
building immigrant detention facilities
on land owned by the state of Texas.
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Kash Patel, Trump s pick for FBI director,
promoted a supplement line
earlier this year that purports to help people detox from Covid vaccines.
South Korean lawmakers move to impeach president
After shocking his country by imposing martial law and then lifting it hours later, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is being tried for impeachment. Today, six opposition parties filed articles of impeachment against Yoon, with the Democratic Party, which controls the parliament, leading the charge. Additionally, the party will begin the process of impeaching the nation’s interior and defense ministers. According to his office, Yoon’s chief of staff and every other senior presidential secretary resigned.
There are talks on whether Yoon should quit the People Power Party, or PPP, according to the party’s head.
In a late-night TV speech yesterday, Yoon announced that he was imposing emergency martial law, accusing opposition parties of having North Korean sympathies and dominating parliament. This sparked the six-hour stalemate. Parliamentarians voted a motion calling on Yoon to revoke his decision less than three hours later. However, Yoon returned to television in the early hours of the morning to declare the reversal.Get the most recent information on the consequences of Yoon’s brief declaration.
SCOTUS tackles state bans on treatments for transgender youth
In a case examining whether states can limit gender transition care for adolescents, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this morning. A Tennessee statute that prohibits gender transition surgery, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy for minors is the subject of a challenge by the Biden administration, transgender teenagers, and their families. The conservative majority court, however, will only consider arguments regarding hormone therapy and puberty blockers; a lower court judge ruled that the petitioners had legal capacity to contest the surgery restriction.
The challengers contend that the Tennessee statute violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees equal treatment under the law, and amounts to sex discrimination. According to the challengers, puberty blockers and hormone treatment can be used to treat non-transgender patients in various situations.
According to Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, the rule is just a type of medical regulation that is applied uniformly to all people and does not amount to sex discrimination.
The case is the most important one the court has heard this term.
U.S. officials warning amid unprecedented cyberattack
Nearly two months after the hack was initially made public, U.S. officials indicated Wednesday that the unprecedented Chinese cyberattack on telecom giants like AT&T and Verizon has not been completely remedied. In order to reduce the likelihood that foreign hackers will intercept private chats, officials advised Americans to utilize encrypted messaging apps instead.
According to the FBI, hackers have typically gained access to three categories of data: call logs, live calls made by particular targets, and technologies that are utilized in accordance with court orders to monitor people’s conversations.
“There is no timeline for declaring American telecommunications systems free of interlopers because the scope of the hacking campaign is so significant,” one CIA officer stated.Here are some other facts.
Read All About It
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In a head-to-head clinical trial of two popular weight loss drugs, people who took Eli Lilly s Zepbound
lost more weight
than those who took Novo Nordisk s Wegovy.
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The sister of Hannah Kobayashi
said her family is confused and frustrated
at the Los Angeles Police Department s conclusion in the case of the missing 30-year-old.
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An Indian American man
is speaking out
about a woman s racist harassment toward his family on a United Airlines bus.
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This has been
the season of second (or third) chances
for NFL quarterbacks. Just look at Bryce Young and Baker Mayfield.
Staff Pick:
A few short bursts of daily activity goes a long way
The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas might not be the ideal times to begin a new fitness regimen. The good news is that your health can benefit greatly from even brief spurts of movement. Even a modest amount of physical activity, like carrying groceries inside or climbing stairs, can build up, according to a growing body of studies, especially for those who don’t frequently exercise. According to the most recent research, women in particular can reduce their risk of serious heart issues by over half by increasing their daily physical activity by just about 3.5 minutes.Health editor Sara G. Miller
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
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