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‘Wow’: Pete Hegseth’s New Year continues its rocky start as fresh abuse and public misconduct allegations arise

He'll never beat the boss's record.

The Secretary of Defense has never been a good look for Pete Hegseth, but Donald Trump is determined to include the Fox News co-host in his Cabinet. His nomination has been fraught with controversy from the very beginning. Despite a mountain of evidence that would preclude any normal person from this powerful of a position, Hegseth continues to march toward a position above of his pay grade.

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The road to the Pentagon has been incredibly rough for Pete Hegseth — not that we’re complaining. It should be hard for a casual misogynist to hold a job that puts him in direct control of women. It should be difficult for a man accused of drinking on the job to claim the second highest military authority in the country. It should be impossible for a man covered in tattoos linked to the alt-right to work alongside the president, but Elon Musk straight up threw a Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration, so we’re obviously not functioning off of precedent anymore.

If the above problems weren’t enough, Senator Jack Reed, a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, presented an affidavit from Hegesth’s former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, on January 21. The new information would be damning for most people, but just like Donald Trump, Hegseth is impervious to the sexual assault allegations rightfully ending his career.

According to Danielle, Hegseth’s second ex-wife, Samantha, hid from her husband in a closet on at least one occasion. She had a “safe word”-activated “escape plan,” one that would allow her to get help without her husband knowing, and had to use the system at least once.

The affidavit gives new details on how intoxicated Hegseth would get. It claims that he would get blackout drunk and shout “sexually and racially offensive statements” before being carried home, throwing up, or passing out. It claims he went on a rant in 2013, screaming, “No means yes” — a phrase that implies that men don’t need consent from women to have sex — at his wife in a bar.

Upping the crappy guy ante, the affidavit claims that Hegseth has said that women shouldn’t vote or work, and that Christian women needed to have more children to “overtake the Muslim population.”

Both Samantha and Hegseth refute the claims, but Reed says Danielle Hegseth has no reason to lie, and that the surfaced information proves that Hegseth’s background check was rushed and inadequate.

“The alleged pattern of abuse and misconduct by Mr. Hegseth is disturbing,” he added. “This behavior would disqualify any service member from holding any leadership position in the military, much less being confirmed as the Secretary of Defense.”


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Author
Image of Ash Martinez
Ash Martinez
Ash has been obsessed with Star Wars and video games since she was old enough to hold a lightsaber. It’s with great delight that she now utilizes this deep lore professionally as a Freelance Writer for We Got This Covered. Leaning on her Game Design degree from Bradley University, she brings a technical edge to her articles on the latest video games. When not writing, she can be found aggressively populating virtual worlds with trees.