Newsmax host Greg Kelly said Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has “serious baggage” and is “blackmailable”.
On his show Thursday, Kelly argued that Hegseth “hasn’t done nearly enough for MAGA to warrant a Department of Defense job, and he’s got serious baggage,” according to a clip highlighted by Mediaite.
Kelly claims to have gotten his information from Hegseth’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, who he says has been making “all kinds of statements I don’t think are particularly helpful to Hegseth, like confirming everything in the New York Times story.”
He then played a clip of Hegseth’s mother interview on Fox News in which she said her son has changed since she sent him an email in 2018 accusing him of being a serial “abuser of women” which was first reported by The Times.
“According to Pete’s lawyer, Pete is blackmailable,” Kelly added. “Two years before that email was sent, Pete Hegseth was conferring with President Trump at Trump Tower about high-level political appointments, maybe even as Secretary of Veterans Affairs……But two years later, he is blackmailed by a woman who falsely accuses him, but he pays money to her anyway. Is he a new man?”
Hegseth has been accused of raping a woman he met at the California Federation of Republican Women conference in 2017. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing, though he paid the victim an undisclosed sum of money.
Parlatore confirmed that Hegseth paid the victim but it was because he feared that if she came forward it “would result in his immediate termination from Fox.”
In addition to sexual assault, Hegseth is accused of mismanaging two veterans organizations, and abusing alcohol. Hegseth is also facing backlash for saying women should not serve in combat roles.
