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Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the world's most powerful military, has come under fire after multiple reports have unearthed claims of drunken strip-club antics and multiple alleged instances of showing up to work while intoxicated.

All of this has put his nomination to lead the Department of Defense in serious doubt, but Hegseth issued a defiant post on X Wednesday morning informing his critics that he's not backing down.

A masked man shot and killed the CEO of UnitedHealth outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan, according to reports

Insurance executive Brian Thompson had arrived around 6:46 a.m. at the Hilton Hotel for a conference when a gunman who had allegedly been lying in wait for him opened fire and then fled, reported the New York Post.

President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Department of Energy, oil executive Chris Wright, has a long history of sneering at scientists who warn about the dangers of manmade climate change.

But the Washington Post reports that many of the scientists are now hitting back.

With both multiple outlets reporting that Donald Trump is in serious talks with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to step in and become the replacement candidate for secretary of defense should Fox News personality Pete Hegseth be pushed aside, the New York Times is reporting that the Florida Republican is not a shoo-in for the spot.

Late Tuesday both the Wall Street Journal and the Bulwark reported that the president-elect is unhappy with the reports coming out on Hegseth's reported drinking and drunken behavior reports and broached the possibility to DeSantis about joining his Cabinet.

A Republican lawmaker revealed what would cause him to stand up to Donald Trump in a razor-thin GOP House majority.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) appeared Wednesday morning on CNN, where he told host Kasie Hunt that the GOP's one-seat House majority gave individual members tremendous leverage within the Republican caucus, and he said he'd be willing to flex that power if the president-elect pushed for what he believes would be reckless spending.

President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly offered the number-two Pentagon job to a secretive billionaire investor with close ties to the military-industrial complex, potentially introducing additional conflicts of interest to an incoming administration that is set to be rife with corporate executives and lobbyists.

Stephen Feinberg is co-founder and co-CEO of the private equity behemoth Cerberus Capital Management, which owns a firm that provided paramilitary training to members of the elite team that murdered Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The partnership between tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and billionaire Elon Musk as they begin working for Donald Trump's proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may be off to an awkward start after CNN dug up some attacks Ramaswamy made about his partner in rooting out what they believe to be government inefficiency.

According to a report from CNN's KFiles, Musk came under fire from his co-chair for comments he made about China's policies with Ramaswamy smearing Musk as a "circus monkey."

Donald Trump's choice for defense secretary could wind up deciding who will inherit the MAGA movement, according to a CNN analyst.

The president-elect's first nominee Pete Hegseth appears to be losing support from Republican senators over damaging allegations about excessive drinking and abusive behavior toward women, in addition to questions about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon, and Trump is reportedly considering Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) to replace him.

Jared Kushner is working "behind the scenes" with Donald Trump's incoming administration, but he isn't expected to take a formal role, according to new reporting.

NBC News reported on Wednesday that Trump's children are "notable absences" from his new team.

According to MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire, Fox News personality Pete Hegseth's interview scheduled for Wednesday is too little too late as he tries to salvage his chances of becoming Donald Trump's secretary of defense.

The embattled Hegseth is fighting an avalanche of news reports about both his reported drinking problems as well as his treatment of women, which has led influential Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to cast doubt on Hegseth's future in the incoming Trump administration.

Speaking with "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough, Lemire claimed Hegseth is hoping for salvation by sitting down for an interview with Fox's Bret Baier on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: Will Trump back the FBI’s battle against domestic extremists? He won’t say.

"A few things here," Lemire began. "First, that NBC News story that suggests that Hegseth would show up on set at Fox smelling of alcohol, one of the reporters behind that story is joining us in a few minutes. You're right to underline Donald Trump's distaste for alcohol, he has said repeatedly he has never drank [sic] in his life, he blames it for the death of his brother, someone he cared about deeply."

"He also judges harshly people who he thinks drink too much," he added before recalling, "Let's remember Rudy Giuliani lost a cabinet post after the 2016 election in part because Trump saw him drinking too much."

"I heard from Republicans yesterday as well, even as Hegseth has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill, that his nomination is in deep danger," he reported. "There could be up to six or more Republican senators, you only need four, who are ready to sink his nomination including Lindsey Graham who normally goes along with whatever Trump wants. Hegseth appearing on Fox later today for an interview, which in a sense may be a last-ditch effort to save that nomination but he's got an uphill climb."

Watch below or at the link here.

A pair of CNN commentators clashed over president Joe Biden's sweeping pardon of his son.

The president pardoned his younger son Hunter Biden, who was convicted in June of illegally buying and possessing a gun as a drug user and pleaded guilty in September to nine charges in a federal tax case, and former Republican House candidate Tiffany Smiley argued that was the sort of corruption voters turned against in November.

The fate of Donald Trump's pick to be Secretary of Defense appears to be dead in the water after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed a stunning lack of support during comments to the press on Tuesday, a MSNBC host said.

According to "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough, former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth's back is against the wall after a flood of reporting about his alleged drinking problems grows daily and that Graham's concerns are just the tip of the iceberg.

According to Scarborough, Trump has a well-known history of looking down on those who drink, blaming alcoholism for the cause of his brother's death, and the new reporting on Hegseth may be enough to force him to step aside with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) reportedly waiting in the wings.

ALSO READ: Will Trump back the FBI’s battle against domestic extremists? He won’t say.

"This is still happening," Scarborough said of the embattled Hegseth's drinking issues. "And that was a real concern that people inside the Trump transition team had also been hearing."

"So I had heard last week from my sources inside the Senate that the Republicans were already going south on this guy last week," he continued. "Then his mother's letter hit this weekend that actually lined up with what we've heard from so many of these accusations, about his behavior and his drunkenness when he was running the two vets organizations. Now the Fox News story has come out but, again, the Fox News story that NBC is reporting is no shock to the Trump transition team."

"You know, hard to see how Pete Hegseth gets through this and hard to see, especially when Lindsey Graham is saying there are a lot of concerns. One Senate insider laughingly told me Lindsey is a lagging indicator," he added.

Watch below or at the link right here.

The federal judge who presided over Hunter Biden’s federal tax case in Los Angeles became the latest voice to come out against President Joe Biden’s sweeping pardon for his son in a stinging rebuke made public Tuesday night.

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in a brief order blamed Hunter Biden’s lawyers for failing to file a copy of the presidential pardon, according to reports. He also took issue with the president’s reasoning for issuing the pardon, going so far as to suggest he was attempting to “rewrite history.”