Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo) brushed aside very serious allegations of sexual misconduct by Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense.
Lummis was among the group of a dozen senators on the Republican Steering Committee who met with Hegseth on Capitol Hill Monday.
The senator praised Hegseth’s ability to lead the Defense Department after the meeting and said allegations of sexual misconduct against him are “side issues,” according to NBC News.
“Again, they’re throwing disparaging remarks at someone who has earned a great deal of credibility. Are soldiers sometimes wild childs? Yeah, that can happen,” Lummis said. “But it is very clear that this guy is the guy who, at a time when Americans are losing confidence in their own military, in our ability to project strength around the world, that Pete Hegseth is the answer to that concern.”
Hegseth has been accused of paying off a woman he sexually assaulted in a California hotel in 2017 after a California Federation of Republican Women conference.
Also, the New York Times obtained an email Hegseth’s mother sent to him in 2018 raising concerns about his treatment of women.
“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 to her son.
“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,” she added.
On Sunday, new disturbing allegations were revealed by The New Yorker from a previously undisclosed whistleblower report from 2015 detailing Hegseth’s time as the head of Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) from 2013 to 2016.
The report said Hegseth was repeatedly intoxicated on the job and was forced out of the organization due to mismanagement and personal misconduct.
Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and claims that the allegations in the whistleblower report were “outlandish” and that they came from a “petty and jealous disgruntled former associate.”
Hegseth is also facing backlash for saying women should not serve in combat roles and his plan to purge what he calls “woke” policy and leadership at the Pentagon.
