President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, has been the victim of a smear campaign by Democrats and the media but he is not backing away.

The former Fox News host spoke to another former Fox News host, Megyn Kelly, on her Sirius XM show where he defended himself against the attacks accusing him of being a woman abuser and heavy drinker.

“Do you know how many guys I’m hearing from right now? The guys I serve with, gals that I work with at CVA and elsewhere. Don’t stop! The guys are like, it’s always. Sir, you know, don’t stop, sir, please keep going. You are fighting for us like you are our voice. We’ve never had a voice like this before,” Hegseth said.

“They’re not upset about your drinking?” Kelly asked sarcastically.

“You know what? That’s an interesting one there. First of all, I never had a drinking problem. I don’t I’m never no one’s ever approached me and said, you should really look at getting help for a drink. Never. I’ve never sought counseling, never sought help. I respect and appreciate people who who do. But, you know, what do guys do when they come back from war? Oftentimes have some beers. You know, how do you deal with the demons you see on the battlefield? Sometimes it’s with a bottle. Unfortunately, tragically, for too many guys, it’s with the bottle and then it’s depression and even worse, suicide,” Hegseth said.

“I mean, we’ve got an epidemic of that in our country. Thank God, by the grace of God, I found my chapters of purpose. They pulled me out of that. I found in many ways, I found two things. My two J’s, my Jenny, my wife Jennifer changed my life, saved me. There’s just no doubt about it. And my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And without those two Js, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now,” he added.