Donald Trump’s Defence Secretary pick Pete Hegseth’s mother accuses him of mistreating women for years: Report

The mother of Pete Hegseth, US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Defence Secretary, fiercely rebuked her son in a 2018 email over his treatment of women, urging him to reflect on his actions. She alleged that Hegseth had been “routinely mistreating women for years” and displaying a “lack of character,” The New York Times reported.

“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.

She expressed disapproval over her son’s character, saying she has no respect for a man who belittles, lies, cheats, exploits women, and seeks power for ego.

“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,” the Times quoted Penelope as writing to her son.

Earlier this month, in a move that surprised many, Trump nominated 44-year-old Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and Army veteran, as Secretary of Defence. The decision to appoint someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to lead the world’s largest and most powerful military was seen as Trump paving the way for sweeping changes in the defence establishment.

Hegseth, known for his conservative stance, has criticised “woke” military leadership, opposed women in combat roles, and questioned the relevance of international war regulations like the Geneva Conventions.

Hegseth has pushed for making the military more lethal and said that allowing women to serve in combat roles hurts that effort.

“Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, means casualties are worse,” Hegseth said during an interview. “I’m straight up just saying that we should not have women in combat roles — it hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated,” he stressed.

Despite his limited senior military and national security experience, Hegseth has developed a close relationship with Trump, advocating for pardons of service members accused of war crimes and pushing for a more traditionalist, combat-focused military ethos.

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