Pete Hegseth brought his mistress-turned-wife to a Republican prayer call Tuesday evening in a bid to salvage his flailing nomination as Donald Trump’s defense secretary.
According to CNN, the devout Christian former Fox News host told listeners on the call—held following reports he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017 to head off a lawsuit—“This is a battle that is just beginning.”
Hegseth’s lawyer said the woman’s allegations are baseless, amounting to a “successful extortion,” and that she and his client had a consensual sexual encounter after he held a speaking event in Monterey, California.
Tuesday’s call was organized by the Republican National Committee.
Hegseth told Republicans he was seated next to his wife and that his family had received an “outpouring of support.”
“That’s the reason why we can endure the attacks and the onslaughts,” he added, according to CNN.
Trump’s team reportedly fears more secrets will come out about the lightly vetted Hegseth, and transition officials are said to have started drafting a list of potential replacements.
Hegseth married Jennifer Rauchet in 2019 after divorcing his second wife in 2017.
She was demoted from her job on Fox & Friends, where she worked with Hegseth, after disclosing to management that she was pregnant with the still-married host’s child toward the end of 2016, according to Brian Stelter’s Network of Lies.
The thrice-married Hegseth, now the father of seven children in a blended family, has been an ardent advocate of conservative Christian values. His multiple tattoos associated with the Crusades have raised eyebrows—one of a Latin phrase that has been co-opted by far-right extremists got him kicked off of National Guard duty at the 2021 presidential inauguration.
He has, however, been open about his own personal failings.
“About 2018 I entered the Colts Neck Community Church with my wife (who was wary of what evangelical Baptists were like), and faith became real,” he told the magazine Birmingham Christian Family earlier this year. “Within 20 minutes we felt at home. The pastor spoke about his broken family past—I’m broken, you’re broken, we’re all broken and careening around not living our faith and not being deeply rooted. I thought I had to be perfect."
In addition to the 2017 allegations, Hegseth’s lack of experience beyond media punditry and conservative activism has raised serious questions—including from GOP senators—about whether he’s qualified to run the Pentagon.
President-elect Trump’s daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair Lara Trump joined the prayer call, CNN reported, to say that the country was “lucky” to have Hegseth as its defense secretary nominee.
