The New York Times published an e-mail that Pete Hegseth’s mother, Penelope, wrote to her son Pete accusing him of abusing women amid a contentious divorce. She told her son he had routinely mistreated women for years and displayed a lack of character.
“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.”
Mom followed up the report to say that she fired off an apologetic e-mail to her son soon after sending it.
Mom Hegseth interviewed with the New York Times to defend her son and her e-mail, saying that she disavowed the sentiments in the angry e-mail.
“It is not true. It has never been true,” she said. She added: “I know my son. He is a good father, husband.” She said that publishing the contents of the first email was “disgusting.”
- The e-mail was sent on April 30, 2018, while Pete was divorcing his second wife, Samantha, the mother of three of his children. Samantha filed for divorce after Pete impregnated a co-worker, part of a pattern of adultery that dated back to his first marriage.
- “For you to try to label her as ‘unstable’ for your own advantage is despicable and abusive. Is there any sense of decency left in you? She did not ask for or deserve any of what has come to her by your hand,” Mom Hegseth said. “Neither did Meredith,”she added, referring to his first wife.
Trump “communicator” Steven Cheung responded with, “The New York Times is despicable for using an out-of-context snippet of an illegally-obtained private email exchange between a mother and her son that does not accurately reflect the entirety of the conversation. In subsequent emails, Mrs. Hegseth expressed regret for her emotional message and apologized.”
The NYT says the e-mail was received from someone with ties to the Hegseth family.
