A whistle-blower report and other documents suggest that Trump’s nominee to run the Pentagon was forced out of previous leadership positions for financial mismanagement, sexist behavior, and being repeatedly intoxicated on the job.

Hours later, the alleged victim’s husband was still waiting for her return. Worried, he’d searched the sports bar, but it was empty. Around 2 A.M., he texted her, saying, “Holy smokes lady . . . I don’t remember the last time you were socializing at nearly 2:00 am.” She responded oddly, typing, “Hahaha I know. I gotta make sure that fo”—dropping off mid-sentence. He responded, “Doing ok? My love? Worried about you.”

A few hours before dawn, the alleged victim returned to the hotel room that she was sharing with her husband and kids. She told police later that she couldn’t recall much of what had happened. But two days later she started to have frightening flashbacks and nightmares. She told police that she hazily recalled Hegseth taking her phone and blocking the door as she tried to leave. She recalled him on top of her, with his dog tags in her face. She recalled saying no a lot. Four days after the alleged assault, she went to a hospital and asked for a rape exam. She said that she thought someone might have slipped a drug into her drink and sexually assaulted her. She brought in the clothes she’d worn that night. According to the police report, she had developed an infection that could have resulted from a new sexual partner. She declined to name her alleged assailant. The nurse was legally required to report the incident to the police, who opened a criminal investigation. At that point, the alleged victim identified her assaulter as Hegseth.

  • @[email protected]OPMEnglish
    3•1 day ago

    I thought the dude dropped out which is why I didn’t post this originally. Slimy all around.

    A separate letter obtained by The New Yorker, which was e-mailed by a different staffer on November, 2015, to Pak, Hegseth’s successor, expresses the upset that Hegseth’s behavior caused. “The organization is owed the truth,” the staffer wrote before he described two incidents that, he said, “change my perception of Mr. Pete Hegseth,” especially “as the face of C.V.A.” He went on to recount what took place in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. On May 29, 2015, the staffer said, Hegseth and someone travelling with the group’s Defend Freedom Tour closed down the bar at the Sheraton Suites Hotel. The duo yelled “Kill All Muslims” multiple times, in what the staffer described as “a drunk and a violent manner.” Hegseth’s “despicable behavior,” he wrote, “embarrassed the entire organization.” He went on, “I personally was ashamed and . . . others were as well.” The staffer’s letter cited a second incident in which, he wrote, Hegseth “passed out” in the back of a party bus, then urinated in front of a hotel where C.V.A.’s team was staying. “I tell you this because it’s the truth,” the letter concluded. “And I sincerely care about the mission of C.VA and the future of my kids and the country.”

    Reached for comment, the author of the letter said, “If you print that, I will deny I wrote it.” When he was reminded that it had been sent from the same personal e-mail account that he still uses, he said, “I don’t care. I’ll just say it never happened.”

    • @athairmorEnglish
      3•1 day ago

      “And I sincerely care about the mission of C.VA and the future of my kids and the country.”

      Reached for the author of the letter said, “If you print that, I will deny I wrote it.” When he was reminded that it had been sent from the same personal e-mail account that he still uses, he said, “I don’t care. I’ll just say it never happened.”

      These fucking people. This is why some people find it impossible to have any sympathy for Trump supporters or any Republicans.