Trump’s Pick for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, Received an Email Saying He Was Mistreating Women — From His Mother

“On behalf of all women (and I know there are many), you have been abusive in some way,” Pete Hegsethmother, wrote in one e-mail to her son in 2018, “I say… get help and take an honest look at yourself….”

The publication of the email came in the name of Hegseth, the Fox News host and President-elect Donald Trump‘S picked to lead the defense department, also facing rape charges charges against him were filed with police in October 2017 during his difficult journey to join the next administration in Washington. (Hegseth, who later paid the woman’s settlement, maintained that he was wrongly accused and that it was a consensual sexual encounter.)

Penelope Hegseth now says she regrets writing the email, which was written during Hegseth’s second divorce and was recently released obtained via New York Times from another person related to the family.

She wrote: “You are an abuser of women – that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man who belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps with and takes advantage of women for power and my ego”. your son and will pray for him. “You are that man (and have been for many years) and as your mother, I am heartbroken and ashamed to say it, but it is the sad, sad truth.”

At the time, Hegseth was in the midst of a contentious divorce from his second wife, Samantha — they had three children together. Samantha, time‘ Sharon LaFraniere And Julie Tate writes, “filed for divorce after her husband impregnated a co-worker, part of an affair stemming from his first marriage.”

In an interview with NYT on Friday, Hegseth’s mother said she quickly sent another email apologizing for what she wrote the first time, adding that she acted “in anger and emotion” in response to the comments. Difficulties in divorce procedures. “That’s not right. That was never true,” she said, defending her son. She said the content of the first email was “disgusting” and that her son was “a good father and husband.”

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in an email to the outlet time was “despicable” to publish “an excerpt out of context” of a mother’s correspondence with her son, while also noting that she had “expressed regret for her emotional message and Sorry.”

Just over a year after the first email was sent, Penelope praised her son at his job during Fox News’ Mother’s Day special. “Pete is a hothead in a good way,” she said, the two joking that he was a troublemaker. She shared that she was “always proud of Pete” and “most of all, I loved the way he loved this country. I know. I don’t know anyone who loves this country as much as Pete.”

Hegseth, now 44, is an Iraq War veteran and former head of the conservative group Veterans Concerned for America. With no senior government or military leadership experience, some in the Pentagon and the defense community in general were shocked by Trump’s choice.