Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for defense secretary, on Wednesday defended his leadership of two veterans advocacy groups amid allegations of misconduct during his tenure.
The 44-year-old Army veteran and former president of Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America has been accused of drunken sexual misconduct and financial liability stemming from his time as the organization's president. The company has faced allegations of mismanagement, which it strongly denied in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Wednesday.
“Like veterans returning from any war, we drank beer to cope with the reality we faced.” Hegseth wrotereferring to his time as executive director of Vets for Freedom.
“But we never did anything inappropriate and treated everyone with respect,” he added. “We had a new mission, and we fought for it.”
Hegseth blamed a “tactical mistake” in spending too much to support John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign, when he was accused of mismanaging the organization's finances.
“We were a little naive, so we doubled down on political spending at the last minute when other groups were pulling back,” he wrote. “This was a tactical mistake that left me in debt (as with most political activities). However, I remained with the organization until all debts were paid and outstanding contracts were negotiated. Ta.”
Following his tenure with Vets for Freedom, Hegseth served as CEO of Concerned Veterans for America.
The incoming defense secretary fumed that media reports made it seem like the CVA was being run like a “fractal university house.”
“The company had hundreds of employees and thousands of volunteers, but based on anonymous accusations from a small number of disgruntled employees, Legacy Media questioned whether the company ran university residence halls. ,” Hegseth wrote. “That's simply not true.”
As The New Yorker reported earlier this week, the Minnesota native was adamant that he was not forced out of CVA's leadership position.
“The truth is that as our organization grew, there were internal disagreements about its future,” Hegseth wrote. “I wanted to be in foreign policy. Our donors didn't do that.”
“Ultimately, the organization and I parted ways,” he added. “The feeling was mutual, so when I left, the organization's leadership wrote me an enthusiastic letter.”
“There are very few groups in Washington that have accomplished as much as we have,” he said of his time at CVA.
In an op-ed, Hegseth accused the media of “spreading anonymous story after anonymous story, all aimed at slandering and tearing me apart.”
“This is a textbook media takedown,” he wrote, defiantly saying he was looking forward to “honest confirmation hearings with prominent senators, not a show trial in the press.” Ta.
Hegseth's op-ed follows a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday that President Trump, 78, is considering nominating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, to replace his top Pentagon nominee. It was reported that they were doing so.
If all Senate Democrats and four Senate Republicans vote against Hegseth's nomination, Hegseth will be defeated in a confirmation vote.
A Republican familiar told the Post on Wednesday that there are currently zero Republicans voting against Hegseth during his confirmation hearing.
