The Pete Hegseth scandal is roiling Trumpworld: “People are upset about the distraction”
Present, Donald Trump To be according to the report stand beside Pete Hegseth, his difficult choice for defense secretary, but some Trump transition officials are starting to doubt whether the Fox News host can survive the controversy. According to two Republicans close to Trump, the transition team is quietly preparing a list of replacement Secretary of Defense candidates if Trump abandons Hegseth. “It is becoming a real possibility,” one of the sources said. A second source told me that transition members were disappointed that Hegseth did not disclose that he had paid a financial settlement to a woman who accused him of raping her at an event for for Republican women in 2017. “People are upset about the distraction. The general feeling is that Pete wasn’t being honest,” the second source said. (Hegseth, through his attorney Timothy Parlatore, vehemently denies his accuser’s allegations.)
Hegseth, a 44-year-old thrice-married military veteran turned conservative media personality, faces an uphill confirmation battle. He has a long catalog of extremist statements: He expressed protest for women serving in combat roles and label “domestic enemies” of the political left. On Thursday, i reported that Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, learned of an allegation that Hegseth engaged in sexual misconduct with a woman at a Republican women’s event in Monterey, California, approximately seven years ago (Monterey Police Department confirm they investigated the sexual assault allegation and the woman reported suffering a “right thigh injury.” No charges were filed).
Over the next few days, journalists discovered other disturbing information about Hegseth. Washington Post And New York Times reported that thing a friend of the alleged victim sent the relay team a memo detailing what she said took place at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey. Hegseth’s lawyer said Breitbart news that the alleged victim’s settlement contained confidentiality agreements that were breached when the allegations became public.
Meanwhile, Mother Jones Have reported that Hegseth had ties to a controversial Christian nationalist group call TheoBros. The unofficial leader of the group, an Idaho pastor named Doug Wilson, said in an interview last month he believed that women should not have the right to vote; Hegseth previously said he studied Wilson’s book My life is for you. Judd passed, “Popular Information” sub-stack writer, reported Second, Hegseth published a college column asserting that sex with an unconscious woman was not rape because the woman was “not forced.” (Hegseth’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the column or his alleged relationship with TheoBros.)
Such issues will certainly be explored in the confirmation hearings and are already being faced by Trump difficult task try to get Matt Gaetz confirmed as attorney general (that is, if Gaetz is not push through as a break appointment). That is disclose last week that a woman testified before the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a minor; She and the second woman also claimed that Gaetz paid them for sex, according to a lawyer represent them. Gaetz has previously denied the allegations against him.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung did not immediately respond Tuesday for comment, but last week speak Vanity fair that “Hegseth has strongly denied any and all allegations and no charges have been filed” and that Trump’s team “looks forward to receiving his confirmation as U.S. Secretary of Defense Ky.”
One prominent Republican close to the transition says the leaks are evidence that some Trumpworld insiders are wary of Hegseth’s lack of qualifications and are trying to ensure said that he did not become minister of defense. “There are Republicans with backgrounds in the Department of Defense who are saying privately, ‘I don’t work for this guy,’” the source said.
