President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth leaves the Russell Senate Office Building on November 21, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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Pete Hegseth, already troubled by President-elect Donald Trump’s selection to lead the Pentagon, faces allegations of alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct and mismanagement while running two veterans’ nonprofit organizations. We are facing a new magazine report detailing this.
The report, published late Sunday by The New Yorker, cited an undisclosed whistleblower written in 2015 that said Hegseth, while serving as president of the American Veterans Association, “had to be removed from the country.” “I got drunk so many times,” he said. Organizational events. ”
“At one point, Hegseth was drunk and had to be stopped while trying to join dancers on stage at a strip club in Louisiana where he was taking his team,” The New Yorker reported, citing a whistleblower report. Reported. Several former CVA employees have been placed in senior management positions within the group.
“The report also alleges that Hegseth, who was married at the time, and other members of his management team sexually pursued female staff at the organization, labeling them as ‘party girls’ and ‘not party girls.’ ” wrote Jane Mayer of The New Yorker.
CNBC has not seen the whistleblower report or the separate complaint detailed by the magazine.
The magazine reported that Hegseth was forced to resign as CVA president in 2016 due in part to “concerns about mismanagement and alcohol abuse,” citing three sources claiming to be experts. One person reported contributing to a whistleblower report. .
Vets for Freedom, another group Hegseth previously led, “quickly racked up huge debts” under his leadership, and by the end of 2008, “Creditors “I was no longer able to pay for it.”
The magazine reported that VFF’s finances had become “so dire that the group’s donors hatched a plan to wrest control from Hegseth.”
According to The New Yorker, Hegseth’s title was lowered on his annual tax return by VFF and his compensation was reduced until he retired in 2012.
CNBC reached out to Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, who declined to comment to NBC News.
The New Yorker cited a statement Parlatore provided to the magazine, saying it came from a person identified by lawyers as an adviser to Mr. Hegseth.
“We have no intention of commenting on the outlandish allegations laundered through The New Yorker by Mr. Hegseth’s petty and jealous former colleagues,” the statement said. “For your first foray into real journalism, contact us.”
President Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the New Yorker article.
Hegseth, a decorated military veteran who most recently served as a Fox News host, was nominated by President Trump in November to be the next Secretary of Defense.
Hegseth’s nomination was canceled almost immediately after it was revealed that police in Monterey, California, were investigating him for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman at a hotel where the Republican Women’s Convention was being held in October 2017. received criticism.
Hegseth told police he had consensual sex with the woman, but no criminal charges were filed after the investigation.
“As far as the media is concerned, I want to keep this very simple. This matter has been thoroughly investigated and I have been completely exonerated,” he told reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 21. So, I will end this matter here.” ”
At the time of the 2017 incident, Hegseth was in the midst of divorcing his second wife. Two months before the alleged assault, his current wife, with whom he was having an extramarital affair at the time, gave birth to a baby fathered by Hegseth.
The Monterey County district attorney said in a statement in late November that Hegseth’s office declined to file criminal charges against him in January 2018 because “the charges were not supported by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.” said.
Years after the alleged incident, Parlatore revealed in mid-November that Hegseth “paid the woman an undisclosed amount as part of a confidential civil settlement and maintained his innocence.”
Hegseth’s attorney told NBC News at the time that Hegseth “ultimately decided to settle the case for a significantly reduced amount” at the “height of the MeToo movement.”
A police report on the sexual assault investigation released in November said investigators spoke to a hotel employee who saw Hegseth and the accuser at the pool after two other guests complained of noise. He heard that.
According to the police report, the worker stated that “Hegseth was extremely intoxicated,” and that the woman with him stated that he was “not drunk…and very coherent.”
However, the woman later told police she could barely remember what happened when she went to Hegseth’s room with him.
Police said in the report that she “does not remember most of the events of the night and believes something may have been slipped into her drink.”
Correction: Pete Hegseth previously served as president of the nonprofit Concerned Veterans for America. A previous version of this article misstated the group name.
