(New York) Pete Hegseth’s candidacy for Secretary of Defense was dead and buried. At least, that was the media, even political, consensus after this exclusivity from Wall Street Journal : Donald Trump was considering replacing the former Fox News host with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Published at 7:00 a.m.
Even though it was not his first rodeo, the president-elect did not appreciate what he learned in the media about the former major of the National Guard called to lead the greatest war machine in the world.
On November 29, the New York Times set the tone for disturbing revelations by publishing an email sent on April 30, 2018 by Penelope Hegseth to her son Pete, who was then in the midst of an acrimonious divorce from the second of his three wives.
“You are an abuser of women — that is the horrible truth and I have no respect for a man who belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego.” , wrote the mother in this merciless email addressed to the one who today aspires to lead an institution where adultery can lead to prosecution.
Penelope Hegseth told Times that she apologized to her son shortly after sending her message. The New York daily recalled in the same article that Pete Hegseth had been involved in an investigation into a sexual assault in Monterey, California, in October 2017. No charges were brought in this case. But the Fox News host paid the alleged victim a sum of money as part of a confidentiality agreement in 2020.
The 1is December, the magazine The New Yorker followed up with an article about allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual misconduct and excessive alcohol consumption aimed at Hegseth. Allegations that forced Hegseth out of leadership of two nonprofit advocacy groups in the 2010s, the New Yorkerafter consulting various documents, including a whistleblower’s report.
Based on numerous testimonies, this report notably recounts an evening in 2015 where Hegseth dragged colleagues from the Concerned Veterans for America organization to a Louisiana strip club where, under the influence of alcohol, he tried to join the dancers on stage. The same year, during another drunken night, Hegseth started shouting in an Ohio bar with one of his colleagues: “Let’s kill all the Muslims!” Let’s kill all Muslims! »
On December 3, NBC News added its two cents by reporting concerns from ten former or current Fox News employees, expressed on condition of anonymity, about Hegseth’s alcohol consumption. The latter began working in 2017 as a host of Fox & Friends Weekend.
Donald Trump was obviously not the only politician in his party to take note of these revelations, denied outright by Hegseth. On December 5, Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst cemented the view that Pete Hegseth would be forced to abandon his candidacy, as had former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, who was nominated for the post of Attorney General of the United States.
During an interview on Fox News, she acknowledged that she was not prepared to vote in favor of Hegseth’s confirmation. “I think a number of our senators want to make sure that all the allegations have been cleared up,” she said.
In this matter, Senator Ernst’s opinion was considered crucial. Not only is she a member of the influential Senate Armed Services Committee, but she was also part of the first generation of female soldiers to advance to combat roles, a development denounced by Hegseth in one of her books. She was also the victim of sexual assault.
But the tide had already begun to turn in Pete Hegseth’s favor. Donald Trump’s advisers initially managed to dissuade him from the idea of replacing Hegseth with Ron DeSantis, arguing that such a decision would send a message of weakness after the collapse of Matt Gaetz. What’s more, the president-elect himself said he was impressed by the combativeness of Hegseth, who accused his “anonymous” critics of defamation in addition to promising not to touch alcohol again if he was confirmed.
Hence Donald Trump’s decision, on December 6, to defend his choice in public, which he had not done in the case of Gaetz. “Pete Hegseth is doing great,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social that day. “He has strong and deep support, far more than the “Fake News” would have you believe. »
Her allies on social media and in conservative media took over, threatening Senator Ernst to find her a Republican rival in 2026 if she did not support Hegseth’s candidacy.
“Prepare your bayonets — that’s what we’re doing here to make sure we support President Trump and his candidates,” former presidential strategist Steve Bannon said on his podcast War Room.
Senator Ernst got the message. On December 9, after a second meeting with Pete Hegseth, she changed her tone and position. “In supporting Pete throughout this process, I expect a fair hearing based on the truth, not anonymous sources,” she said.
Last Sunday, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Pete Hegseth assured him he would release the woman who accused him of sexual assault from her confidentiality agreement.
“If people have allegations to make, let them come forward and make them [à visage découvert] “, he declared on NBC. “We will decide whether they are credible or not. For now, he is being judged by anonymous sources. This is not enough. »
Pete Hegseth is not immune to new revelations or new testimonies. But his candidacy has indeed been resurrected.
On this note, happy holidays to the readers of this newsletter, which will be on hiatus until January 7.
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