Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled Secretary of Defense nominee, and his mother, Penelope Hegseth, whose scathing email to him in the midst of a rocky divorce was leaked to The New York Times, will be interviewed on Fox News this week. Penelope Hegseth will sit down for an exclusive interview with Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy, Mediaite has learned from a source familiar with the show’s schedule.
Since Trump announced his intention to nominate Hegseth to head the Defense Department, there have been a multitude of critical stories about him, including disturbing accusations of sexual assault, repeated alleged incidents of alcohol abuse, his multiple reported infidelities, and an email his mother sent him in which she called him an “abuser of women.”
The 2018 email was obtained by the Times from someone with ties to the family, and referenced his second wife, Samantha Hegseth, and their troubled divorce. In the email, Penelope Hegseth excoriated her son, accusing him of “dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, belittling” and saying he needed to be “called out.”
Penelope Hegseth told the Times that she sent a follow up email apologizing to her son, said it was written in “anger,” and called the publication of its contents “disgusting,” adding that she did not believe he was an abuser of women.
Tuesday evening, Kaitlan Collins reported live from West Palm Beach, Florida, just north of Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. Collins opened The Source by reporting on the latest developments in Hegseth’s nomination fight, saying that it was “in serious trouble.”
Hegseth was on Capitol Hill Tuesday, “making a full court press to lead the Pentagon” and meeting with Republican Senators, said Collins.
On Wednesday, Hegseth would be pursuing “a strategy that has raised some eyebrows,” Collins reported, meeting with not Senators, but House Republicans, who do not get a vote on his nomination, but this was all a part of the “Trump strategy to save Pete Hegseth.”
Part of that strategy, Collins continued, would include him sitting down “likely tomorrow, for an interview with Fox News.”
“That’s noteworthy given most, if not all, of Trump’s Cabinet picks have been told not to do any media appearances until after they’ve been confirmed,” she said. “It’s also notable because Fox News was his employer until just a few days ago. And just a few moments ago, I was told his mother is also expected to appear on the channel for an interview that comes after she was inserted into his confirmation drama when The New York Times published an email from [her].”
Mediaite can confirm CNN’s reporting that Penelope Hegseth will be on Fox News this week, and add that she will appear on Wednesday morning’s episode of Fox & Friends, according to a source familiar with the show’s schedule, with host Steve Doocy conducting the interview. Hegseth himself was formerly a host of the weekend edition of Fox & Friends.
Mediaite reached out to Fox News for comment but did not receive a reply.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
