President-elect Donald Trump endorsed Pete Hegseth’s choice to be the next Secretary of Defense after it was recently revealed that he secretly paid a settlement to a woman who accused him of rape in 2017. . President Trump’s communications director, Stephen Chan, issued a statement pointing out that Hegseth, who denies wrongdoing, has not been charged with any crime. “President Trump is nominating excellent and highly qualified candidates to serve in his administration,” Chan argued.
But Hegseth’s career history before becoming a full-time host on Fox News TV in 2017 raises further questions about his suitability to run the world’s largest and most lethal military force. The documents, corroborated by testimony from former colleagues, show that Mr. Hegseth faced serious allegations about the finances of two nonprofit advocacy groups he ran, including Veterans for Freedom. and Concerned Veterans for America). Mismanagement, sexual misconduct, personal misconduct.
A previously unpublished whistleblower report on Mr. Hegseth’s tenure as president of the United States Veterans Association from 2013 to 2016 states that Mr. Hegseth repeatedly became intoxicated while on duty and had to be carried out of organization events. It is said that it has become so bad that it has become impossible. . A detailed seven-page report compiled by multiple former CVA employees and sent to the organization’s senior management in February 2015 states that at one point Hegseth became drunk and joined dancers on stage. It is stated that he had to be restrained. A strip club in Louisiana where he brought his team. The report also alleges that Mr. Hegseth, who was married at the time, and other members of his management team sexually pursued female staff at the organization, and categorized them into two groups: “party girls” and “non-party girls.” It is said that it was divided into Additionally, the report states that under Hegseth’s leadership, the organization committed significant misconduct, including a female employee’s allegation that another employee on Hegseth’s staff attempted to sexually assault her at a strip club in Louisiana. They claim it has become a hostile workplace where their accusations are ignored. . In a separate complaint sent to the group in late 2015, another former employee said Hegseth was at the bar in the early morning hours of May 29, 2015, during an official tour of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He explained. He drunkenly chanted, “Kill all Muslims!” Kill all Muslims! ”
Hegseth’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, responded to Barron’s questions with the following statement, which he said came from Hegseth’s “advisers.” It was by a narrow-minded, jealous and disgruntled former colleague of Mr. Hegseth. Contact us for your first foray into real journalism. ”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Hegseth’s drinking reports alarming and disqualifying. Blumenthal, who currently chairs the Senate committee reviewing Hegseth’s nomination, said in a phone interview that he is sympathetic to people with persistent alcohol problems, but they should not be at the top of the national security structure. No,” he said. ” Blumenthal continued. “That’s dangerous. The Secretary of Defense is involved in all matters of national security. He’s involved in the use of nuclear weapons. He’s the one authorizing the sending of troops into combat. He’s the one in the private sector. It authorizes drone strikes that could involve human casualties, literally, life-and-death matters are in the hands of the Secretary of Defense, and those who may be incapacitated for any reason. Delegating the matter is a risk we cannot take.”
Blumenthal noted that his previous nomination for defense secretary, Republican Sen. John Tower of Texas, was rejected in 1989 by his Senate colleagues over concerns about his drinking and womanizing. . It was the first time that a cabinet selection by a newly elected president, in this case George H.W. Bush, was rejected by the Senate. “John Tower was ousted over similar issues,” Blumenthal said. “I don’t think this is a partisan issue.”
In January 2016, Hegseth resigned from Concerned Veterans for America under pressure. The Military Times article said Mr Hegseth had “quietly resigned” as a “mutual” decision with the organization amid “rumors of a rift between the former CEO and the group’s financial backers”. Mr. Hegseth, who had no other work commitments at the time, offered no reason for his departure other than to say, “Sometimes it makes sense to change jobs.” CVA issued a statement thanking Mr Hegseth for his “many contributions” and wishing him well. However, three experts, including one who contributed to the whistleblower report, said Mr Hegseth was forced to resign from the organization due to concerns about his mismanagement and alcohol abuse.
“Congratulations on your dismissal of Pete Hegseth,” is the subject line of an email obtained by The New Yorker and sent to Jae Park, who replaced Hegseth as group chairman on January 15, 2016. . One of the whistleblowers encloses a copy of the report under a pseudonym and continues: Pete was pretty high. Most veterans do not think he represents them or their high standards of excellence. The email also said Hegseth had a “history of alcohol abuse” and “treated the organization’s funds like a personal spending account, including partying, drinking and using CVA events.” . With women on the street. ”
Park, who was CVA’s chief operating officer before taking over as CVA’s president and is no longer working there, declined to comment. A spokesperson for Americans for Prosperity, an umbrella political group run by the far-right billionaire Koch family, confirmed Hegseth’s resignation but declined to comment further on the personnel matter. Breitbart News, the publication that serves as President Trump’s spokesperson, claimed that it intended to cite a “doctrine” about Hegseth written by a “jealous former colleague” who had been “fired,” before publishing the article. Tried to damage credibility. In fact, the reports disclosed in this article are not the same document, although there are some overlaps. (More than a dozen employees were made redundant by the CVA during Hegseth’s time there, and the proliferation of critical memos and letters to group management speaks to high levels of dissatisfaction within the organization. )
The whistleblower report makes extensive allegations. Several executives have been involved in drunken episodes, including arguments at casinos and food being thrown from balconies at hotel Christmas parties. The newspaper said Mr Hegseth was “seen drinking at multiple CVA events” from 2013 to 2015, a period during which CVA encouraged veterans to vote for conservative candidates and causes. He was working on an ambitious national effort to mobilize the United Nations. The project gave Hegseth and his team the opportunity to travel far from the organization’s headquarters in Northern Virginia. Hegseth and his team gave speeches, supported conservative campaigns, and collected voter data valuable to the Kochs’ political efforts. As a decorated veteran who became an on-air contributor for FOX News by 2014, Hegseth became the public face of the group’s mission, touring the city with his team on what CVA packaged as the “Defend Freedom Tour.” conducted whistle-stop tours of the city. .
I spoke at length with two people who admitted to contributing to the whistleblower report. One of them said this about Hegseth: I saw him dragged away not just a few times, but many times. It would be a terrible thing to have him in the Pentagon,” he added. ‘No!’” According to the complaint, Hegseth was “completely flopped” and “highly intoxicated” during a CVA event in Virginia Beach over Memorial Day weekend in 2014. He said he had to be carried to his room. The following month, during an event in Cleveland, Hegseth went with his team to a bar around the corner from the hotel and was described as “fully intoxicated in public.” The report said “several celebrities” who attended the group’s events were “deeply disappointed to see this type of public behavior,” but the report did not name them.
In October 2014, CVA instituted a “no alcohol” policy at events. But the next month, Hegseth and another manager lifted the policy while overseeing a field vote-getting operation to boost Republican candidates in North Carolina, the report said. According to the report, Mr. Hegseth, who was out with three young female staffers on the eve of the election, was so drunk by 1 a.m. that he shared a van with other inebriated staffers and drove them to a hotel. That’s what it means. , asked for help in taking Hegseth to his room. “Pete was completely unconscious and slumped over in the middle seat,” the report states. It took two male staff members to escort Hegseth to the hotel. After one young woman vomited in the bushes, another took him to bed. In the morning, team members had to wake Hegseth so he wouldn’t miss his flight. While “all of this occurred in public,” the report said, CVA was “embedded” in Republican vote-getting efforts. He continued: “Everyone who saw this was disgusted and shocked that the head of the team was so drunk.”
