Pete Hegseth's Mother Accused Her Son of Mistreating Women for Years

[Nevilledog]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/29/us/politics/pete-hegseth-mother-email.html

No paywall link
https://archive.li/U3qjj

The mother of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, wrote him an email in 2018 saying he had routinely mistreated women for years and displayed a lack of character.

“On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say … get some help and take an honest look at yourself,” Penelope Hegseth wrote, stating that she still loved him.

She also wrote: “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”

Mrs. Hegseth, in a phone interview with The New York Times on Friday, said that she had sent her son an immediate follow-up email at the time apologizing for what she had written. She said she had fired off the original email “in anger, with emotion” at a time when he and his wife were going through a very difficult divorce.

*snip*

[Skittles]

1. imagine that

that all seems pretty standard with the greedy old pig party

[peregrinus]

2. Damn, the Defense Secretary heir apparent called out by his mother

That’s a first.

[Volaris]

13. Put her in front of the confirmation committee. If Donald and his dipshit, half-assed 2025 Nazis want wreck the country

MAKE THEM WORK FOR IT, and make that work utterly and forever and PUBLICLY humiliating to everyone who voted for him. Make ALL of them own it.

[UTUSN]

3. K&R

[Picaro]

4. She got it right the 1st time

It was her apology that was in error.

[Yavin4]

5. That's praiseworthy to these ghouls. n/t

[SheltieLover]

15. A badge of honor to magats

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

6. Well what a surprise... not!!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. Pete Hegseth's mom refers to her son as "an abuser of women."

This will come up in the confirmation hearings

Link to tweet

NEWS

The New York Times has obtained an email that Pete Hegseth’s mom sent to her son in 2018.

In the email, Penelope Hegseth refers to her son as “an abuser of women.”

In an interview with the New York Times, Penelope Hegseth says she regrets sending the email to her son.

[Rhiannon12866]

17. Yikes!

And thanks for posting!

[Prairie Gates]

8. The devout Christian has had three wives, with kids from each

A woman he admits to having had intercourse with at a conference went to the hospital emergency room and got a rape kit performed. Hegseth paid her a settlement.

This guy is a bad person. He's a bad person.

[Disaffected]

9. Whatever one thinks of Pete Hegseth,

where the F does the NY Times get off on publishing such personal correspondence w/o permission or consent??

Yellow Journalism in spades IMO...

[hunter]

14. I'm guessing his mother sent copies to others and they saved it.

Not yellow journalism at all.

[Disaffected]

19. That's not the point.

Please refer to my response (# 18) below.

[hunter]

25. If mom cc'd the letter to others, or then-wife had access to Hegseth's email account...

... seems fair game to me.

There's substantial evidence that Hegseth abuses women. This is more.

Let him burn.

[allegorical oracle]

16. No way the NYT published that without verifying it first. Probably with

at least two sources. It's also likely that Hegseth was contacted for a response, but either couldn't be reached or opted not to respond. At some point, his mom also issued her regrets for sending it, which is a validation that it's legit and that she sent it.

Only unprofessional print media, broadcast, and social media run with unverified stories.

[Disaffected]

18. The issue is not whether it was verified and legit or not.

The issue IMO is that a deeply personal communication was published without her knowledge or consent.

[allegorical oracle]

21. Suffice it to say that when the POTUS-elect nominates you to lead any

high public office, your personal history becomes fair game. There may be other of Pete's deeply personal communications that pop up -- and as a journalist, he should've expected that it could happen.

Richard Nixon, Clarence Thomas, and Bill Clinton all had their personal histories become public. It's up to Congress and the public to decide whether to believe it or dismiss it. Sadly, there's nothing fair about politics.

[keep_left]

23. Yep, this is really on the Trump regime. And I'm sure the NYT...

...ran this by an army of lawyers before they published the story.

The reality is that there were some good things about the old smoke-filled-room political era, with its ethnic machines and ward-heelers to keep party discipline. In those days, we could at least count on the candidates being vetted, their closets full of skeletons having been cleaned out in private. Nowadays we have the total arrogance and/or laziness of the Trump regime, which doesn't seem to even be willing to do the minimum expected when it comes to due diligence.

[Disaffected]

24. I'm not talking about him, I'm talking about her.

She hasn't been elected to anything (AFAIK).

She is the one who wrote the letter.

[karynnj]

28. We don't know where the NYT got it. Given she cc'd the soon to be divorced

It seems possible it was included by her team in the divorce. If so, it is public record. Years ago, I remember being told an email is forever. His mother should have thought of that before hitting send.

Not to mention, we already know he cheated on the wife and had a child out of wedlock with his third wife. He and the paramour both worked for Fox. That letter is relevant to his character especially in light of the drugged sex accusation. Either of those things would have led to being fired in many companies

This man, parading as a man of Christian values is not someone who should lead a large organization.

[chouchou]

10. I'm sure Pete Hegseth will be a level headed person to insure that the defense of our nation is in good hands.

...and I'm Taylor Swift.

[Blue Owl]

11. K&R for exposure

[czarjak]

12. Momma.Tried.

Only a Mother could love that legitimately.

[Dem4life1234]

20. He picks the worst human beings

It's almost like he gets a kick out of it.

[BoRaGard]

22. Tatted Dude has the full array of republicon "values"

[no_hypocrisy]

26. My mother would have done the same thing.

(My mother had a mouth that would have made Dorothy Parker cry.)

Mom did not hold back on her criticism. Not only were you wrong, but she'd tell you exactly why you were wrong. She never missed an opportunity. Still uncertain why. To demean? To teach me a lesson? To moralize? I couldn't tell you. OTOH, she did it to everyone including her husband/my father. That was worth getting popcorn for.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

27. Holy shit. Pete Hegseth's mom thinks her own son is an abusive monster. 👇👇

This will come up in a confirmation hearing

Link to tweet

[Initech]

29. Great, our country is going to be in the hands of total psychopaths.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Meowmee]

30. Sort of like

When Ivana said psycho assaulted her and took it back.

[soandso]

31. Pete can't keep his dick in his pants

Cheated on the first two wives, impregnating the second before divorced from the first. He's still young enough that number three could also get the same treatment. Aside from all that, though, it's his pro Israel "chosen people" and Bush style Yoo Ess Ay America as the policeman of the world view that bothers me more.