Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, parted ways with two nonprofit veteran organizations due to allegations of drunken sexual misconduct and draining one of the organizations’ finances, according to a whistleblower report.
Hegseth served as the leader of Vets for Freedom, an organization that supported fighting the war on terrorism, from 2007 to 2012 and then served as president of Concerned Veterans for America from 2013 to 2016. Publicly, Hegseth’s resignation from Concerned Veterans for America was “mutual” as the organization wished him well and thanked him “for his many contributions.”
However, a seven-page whistleblower report detailed in the New Yorker reported Hegseth was forced out of the organization due to a pattern of drunken behavior at work events and lewd and sexual misconduct toward women in the organization.
The seven-page report was sent to CVA senior management in February 2015, which includes accounts of Hegseth having to be restrained while attempting to get onstage with strippers at a strip club in Louisiana, sexually pursuing women in the organization, and dividing them into “party girls” and “not party girls.” All the while, he was married to his second wife.
Between 2013 and 2015, Hegseth was “seen drunk at multiple CVA events,” even after the organization had implemented a no-drinking policy in October 2014. This decision followed a Memorial Day incident in which Hegseth was seen “totally sloshed” at a CVA event in Virginia Beach and needed to be carried to his room. His behavior was witnessed by several high-profile people who were “very disappointed to see this kind of public behavior,” according to the report.
During this period, CVA was on a nationwide tour to mobilize veterans to vote for conservative candidates.
Despite the no-drinking policy implemented at work events, Hegseth was “noticeably intoxicated” at a Christmas party at the Grand Hyatt in Washington in December 2014.
Another report not included in the seven-page report accused Hegseth of screaming, “Kill all Muslims,” multiple times at a bar in Sheraton Suites Hotel in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The incident allegedly occurred on May 29, 2015, while Hegseth was traveling with the organization’s Defend Freedom Tour.
The report was sent to Jae Pak, Hegseth’s successor, on Jan. 15, 2016, in an email with the subject line: “Congratulations on Removing Pete Hegseth.” The email outlined how Hegseth “treated the organization funds like they were a personal expense account — for partying, drinking, and using CVA events as little more than opportunities to ‘hook up’ with women on the road.”
Hegseth’s lawyer Tim Parlatore denied the allegations.
“All false and the New Yorker was fully informed of that before they published their false hit piece,” Parlatore said in an email to the Washington Examiner.
While Hegseth is hit with accusations of sloppy drunken behavior and sexual lewdness at CVA, which his lawyer attributes to a disgruntled former associate, there is no denial of the fact that VFF had racked up $434,833 in debt by January 2009, according to a letter Hegseth sent to donors — just two years into Hegseth being installed as the organization’s leader. By 2008, it was reviewed that the organization was unable to pay back its creditors. This came at a time when donors were concerned that funds were being used to fund parties and “trysts.”
Tax filings from 2011 showed that Hegseth, titled the group “officer,” was paid a salary of $5,000 for 30 minutes of work a week, and then in 2012, his compensation rose to $8,000.
Hegseth took responsibility for the financial mismanagement of the organization and said the group would need to file for bankruptcy.
The organization was later merged with Military Families United.
Margaret Hoover, who worked as an adviser to VFF between 2008 and 2010, shared with CNN her concerns about putting Hegseth in charge of the Pentagon.
“I watched him run an organization very poorly, lose the confidence of donors,” Hoover said. “The organization ultimately folded and was forced to merge with another organization who individuals felt could run and manage funds on behalf of donors more responsibly than he could. That was my experience with him.”
These latest allegations come as it was revealed that Hegseth entered into a settlement agreement with a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her. Similar to allegations laid out in the whistleblower report, Hegseth was allegedly intoxicated at a hotel bar and had to be led back to his hotel room by the woman who said she was later raped.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Trump transition team regarding these allegations.
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Upon the news of Hegseth’s rape allegations, Trump’s transition team stood behind Hegseth.
“President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his administration,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said at the time.