Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is accused of abuse and infidelity by his own mother

Penelope Hegseththe mother of Pete HegsethPresident-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Minister of DefenseShe accused her son of abusing women for years. New York Times reported.
The 2018 email allegation resurfaced when questions arose about Hegseth’s personal behavior, particularly his treatment of women, during his nomination for a senior administration position, particularly given the military’s strict stance on adultery entails considerable responsibility.

Penelope’s email

In April 2018, Penelope Hegseth sent an email to her son and accused him of years of mistreatment of women. The email was written during a turbulent time in the family’s life Pete Hegseth had a contentious divorce from his second wife, Samantha.
Penelope wrote in the email: “On behalf of all the women (and I know there are many) who have abused you in any way, I say… get help and take an honest look at yourself.” She also pressed expressed her deep disappointment and said, “I have no respect for a man who belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and exploits women for his own power and ego.” You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother hurts me and I’m embarrassed to say it, but it’s the sad, sad truth.”
She described his abusive behavior over the years as “dishonesty, sneaking around, betrayal, humiliation, degradation” of women.
Despite her harsh words, she later reiterated her love for him in an apology email. However, the seriousness of her statement raised concerns, particularly in light of the nomination of Pete Hegseth to head the Pentagon.

Apology email

In an interview with The New York Times after the email was published, Penelope Hegseth defended her son and said the allegations were untrue and were written out of anger. She clarified that she had immediately sent an apology email, saying she had sent the original message “in anger and full of emotion” at a time of personal turmoil.
“That is not true. That was never true,” she said, defending her son’s character. “I know my son. He’s a good father, husband.” She also expressed her frustration over the publication of her original message, calling it “disgusting.”
Her apology email to Pete, sent immediately after the first message, explained the emotional turmoil she was going through. “If the email causes more damage to our relationship,” she wrote, “so be it.”
In 2018, Penelope publicly praised Pete Fox Newscalled him a good son and praised his military service on Mother’s Day. “I’m grateful for that, Pete, and proud to be your mother every day,” she said, holding hands with him on set.

allegations

Even before the email was published, questions arose about Hegseth’s treatment of women. Hegseth has a well-known history of infidelity, including divorces from his first wife, Meredith Schwarz, and his second wife, Samantha, which raised concerns about his personal behavior.
His second marriage ended after he fathered a child with a work colleague, Jennifer Rauchet, who would later become his third wife. Samantha Hegseth’s divorce was bitter, as Penelope Hegseth accused her son of trying to manipulate the situation by “calling her ‘unstable’ for his own gain,” referring to Samantha. “She did not ask for or deserve anything that happened to her at your hands,” Penelope wrote, expressing her dismay at her son’s actions.
There is also a rape complaint from 2017 Hegsethhas raised further concerns following an incident at a political conference in Monterey, California. Hegseth denies the claim. His lawyers say the encounter was consensual and that he paid a severance package to protect his job on Fox & Friends.
Hegseth’s supporters, including Vice President-elect JD Vance, are working to secure his endorsement. But some Republican senators, such as Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who has been vocal about her own experiences with military sexual harassment, have cautioned that the allegations need to be properly investigated.

Conservative roots

Hegseth has often said that he is a Christian who follows conservative family values. During his brief run for the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota in 2012, he praised his parents for instilling those values ​​in him, saying, “I didn’t learn conservatism from a book.”
A veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hegseth was chosen by Trump as his candidate for defense secretary.
“Had I been raised in a family that did not value faith, loyalty and fatherhood, my decisions could have led to the collapse of the family,” he wrote in an article for the Center of the American Experiment, a nonprofit group focused on Focused on family issues.