Trump’s choice Takeovers run the gamut from the federal government, from conspirators to the absurdly underqualified.
But it used to be fox news Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, may take the cake. maximum Controversial. (He may have been making the same ignominious distinction as former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, whom Trump briefly chose as attorney general before dropping out amid accusations of drug use and sexual misconduct.)
Since his appointment as Minister of Defense, several disturbing accusations have emerged against Hegseth. The latest bomb-filled news has been revealed. New Yorker Reports late Sunday said Hegseth was forced out of leadership positions at two different nonprofit advocacy organizations targeting veterans due to drinking problems, sexual impropriety and financial misconduct. (Hegseth is a veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as my colleague Stephanie Mencimer points out.)
Here are all the charges Hegseth is currently facing:
Poor management, drinking problems and sexually inappropriate behavior
in a long report New YorkerVeteran journalist Jane Mayer argues that Hegseth should have stepped down from leadership positions at two nonprofit advocacy groups, Veterans for Freedom (VFF) and Concerned Veterans for America (CVA). fox tidings. Here are the reasons why he left VFF: Hagseth allegedly owed the organization more than $400,000.
one of the following Mayer’s primary source is a seven-page whistleblowing report focused on Hegseth’s time as CVA president from 2013 to 2016. The report, compiled by a former CVA employee, describes Hegseth repeatedly being drunk at work events. Hegseth was stopped from going on stage at the Louisiana strip club where he brought his team. The whistleblower report reportedly alleges that Hegseth, who was married at the time, and other managers at the organization sexually pursued some female colleagues. Mayer cites another letter from a former employee detailing an incident in which Hegseth allegedly became drunk and shouted, “Kill all Muslims!” When I went to a hotel bar during a business trip.
“I saw him drunk several times,” one of the authors of the whistleblower report told the magazine. “I saw that person being dragged away a few times.majoritytimes. It would be scary to have him in the Pentagon.”
Hegseth’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, sent the following: New Yorker Hegseth’s advisor said: “We will not comment on outlandish claims that have been laundered. New Yorker by Mr. Hegseth’s petty and jealous disgruntled former colleague. Please get back to me when you make your first attempt at real journalism.”
rape charge
recently released According to the police report One woman accused Hegseth of raping her at a 2017 Republican Women’s Conference in Monterey, California. No charges were filed and Hegseth insisted the encounter was consensual, but he ended up paying the woman as part of a non-disclosure agreement. washington post It was first reported last month. Parlatore, Hegseth’s attorney, said: mail The woman who made the accusation was the “initiator of the sexual activity” and Hegseth allegedly paid the money “knowing it was the height of the #MeToo movement” and was fearful of potentially losing his fortune. fox newlocation.
His mother called him a “female abuser”
As my colleague Pema Levy wrote this weekend, Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth, sent an email to her son in 2018, calling him a “female abuser” and “compelling him with years of abuse of women: dishonesty, sleeping, betraying, belittling.” , contempt) must be called out.” first letter received new york timesIt reportedly focused on how Hegseth treated his ex-wife. Samantha, in divorce proceedings. Penelope Hegseth said: times She retracted the accusations she made in the email, claimed she wrote to him out of anger and immediately apologized. She also said the newspaper’s decision to publish the contents of the emails was “disgusting”.
Hegseth’s attorney and a spokesperson for Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment. mother jones On Monday.
But as Pema writes, don’t expect this argument to derail Hegseth’s confirmation hearings.
Trump himself has been found guilty of sexual assault and faces numerous other charges of assault and misconduct. If the Commander-in-Chief can get away with it, perhaps Hegseth can too.
