Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth slammed the "liberal media" during his confirmation hearing Tuesday, blaming it for a "coordinated smear campaign" against him.
"What became very evident to us from the beginning, there was a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us that was clear from moment one," Hegseth said.
He continued, "What we knew is that it wasn't about me. Most of it was about President Donald Trump, who's had to endure the very same thing for much longer amounts of time, and he endured it in incredibly strong ways. So we, in some ways, knew it was coming.
"We didn't understand the depth of the dishonesty that would come with it."
Hegseth has been the focus of several reports involving allegations of sexual abuse, alcohol use, and financial mismanagement.
"So, from story after story in the media, left wing media, we saw anonymous source after anonymous source based on second- or third-hand accounts," he continued.
"And time and time again, stories would come out and people would reach out to me and say, 'You know, I've spoken to this reporter about who you really are, and I was willing to go on the record, but they didn't print my quote.'
" ... Instead, a small handful of anonymous sources were allowed to drive a smear campaign, an agenda about me because our left-wing media in America today sadly doesn't care about the truth."