(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Defense, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, was forced to resign from two veterans’ advocacy groups amid allegations of personal and financial misconduct, the New Yorker reported.
A 2015 whistleblower report obtained by the magazine described Hegseth as repeatedly intoxicated on the job as president of Concerned Veterans for America. The report also alleges that Hegseth and members of his management team pursued sexual relationships with the group’s female staff and ignored accusations of misconduct.
Hegseth’s lack of experience running a large organization like the Defense Department and allegations he raped a woman in 2017 had already put his Senate confirmation in doubt.
Hegseth has repeatedly denied the rape allegations and an adviser to Hegseth dismissed the New Yorker report as “outlandish claims laundered through The New Yorker by a petty and jealous disgruntled former associate of Mr. Hegseth’s.”
Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The New Yorker reported that Hegseth resigned from the group in early 2016.
With a slim majority, just four Republicans voting against a nominee would tank them. The new allegations could give cover for more senators to reject Hegseth’s bid.
If confirmed as Defense secretary, Hegseth would take over what’s commonly regarded as the world’s largest organization and the largest US employer, with more than 770,000 employees and 2 million men and women in uniform. Its budget is more than $840 billion and its finances are so complicated it’s never successfully completed an audit.
Years earlier, a veterans’ group Hegseth had also run, Vets for Freedom, closed amid allegations of financial mismanagement.
According to the New Yorker, Hegseth sent a letter to donors in 2009 acknowledging that the group had less than a thousand dollars in the bank and $434,833 in unpaid bills. The group also had tens of thousands of dollars in credit-card debts.
The donors merged VFF with another group, Military Families United, and Hegseth’s responsibility declined over time, the magazine reported.
--With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.