In 2018, the mother of Pete Hegseth, the choice of President-elect Donald J. Trump for secretary of defense, reportedly sent him an email in which she accused him of exhibiting a lack of character and habitually mistreating women for years.
“I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.” Mrs. Hegseth wrote.
In a phone interview with The New York Times on Friday, Mrs. Hegseth disclosed that she had promptly sent her son a follow-up email, expressing her regret for the content of her previous email.
She stated that she had sent the initial email “in anger, with emotion,” during a period in which he and his wife were undergoing a particularly challenging divorce.
She proceeded to defend her son and refuted the sentiments she had expressed in the initial email regarding his character and treatment of women during the interview.
“It is not true. It has never been true. I know my son. He is a good father, husband.” she said.
She also proceeded to call the NYTimes’ decision to publish the original email ‘disgusting.’
In the weeks following Mr. Trump’s appointment of Mr. Hegseth, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, to lead the Pentagon, concerns regarding his treatment of women have arisen.
It is anticipated that the matter will be the focus of scrutiny during the Senate confirmation hearings.
Attention has been drawn to his leadership and character as a civilian who supervises the military, as active-duty service members may be prosecuted for adultery under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, following reports of his infidelity.
Another concern is the senators’ perspective on a rape complaint against Mr. Hegseth that was submitted to the police in October 2017 following an incident at a political conference in Monterey, California.
The complainant has not come forward publicly, and no charges were ever brought.
Mr. Hegseth has claimed that he was falsely implicated by a woman with whom he had a consensual sexual encounter. The reason he secretly paid her a settlement a few years later was to safeguard his position as the weekend anchor at Fox & Friends, according to his lawyer.
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