The mother of Pete Hegseth, the embattled former Fox News personality chosen by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Defense, defended her son on a "Fox & Friends" appearance Wednesday morning after the New York Times leaked a 2018 email in which she called her own son an "abuser of women."
Penelope Hegseth said that her son and his wife at the time were in the throes of a "very difficult divorce" when she wrote the email, and that she, a "passionate" person, sent it "in haste" and with "deep emotions."
"I wrote that out of love," she said. "And about two hours later, I retracted it with an apology email, but nobody's seen that."
Later in the interview, Mrs. Hegseth seemed to imply that her son had changed since the time she described him as a "man who belittles, lies, cheats and sleeps around" on "behalf of all the women (and I know it's many) you have abused in some way."
"We really believe that he is not that man he was seven years ago, I am not that mother, and I hope that people will hear that story today," she said, a comment that came after Hegseth said she wanted to directly address the president-elect. Her appearance came after the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is considering Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a replacement for his embattled Pentagon nominee.
The publication of the email added fuel to an already raging fire over allegations that the then-married Mr. Hegseth was constantly drunk and aggressively pursued female colleagues while working at Concerned Veterans for America, as well as a police report from 2017 revealing that a woman accused Hegseth of raping her at a Republican women's conference.
While no charges were filed and Hegseth claimed the encounter was consensual, he agreed to pay the woman as a part of a nondisclosure agreement.
Now, his mother is urging senators who hold the key to his confirmation, "especially our female senators," to "not listen to the media" and instead "listen to Pete."
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