Fox News ignores Pete Hegseth misconduct allegations as concerns over Trump pick mount

Pete Hegseth, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Defence Secretary, at the Capitol in Washington on Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)

NEW YORK -

What’s a media outlet supposed to do when its longtime host is picked to run the Pentagon, and then a series of eyebrow-raising news stories trigger doubts about his appointment?

If you’re Fox News, evidently, you just pretend the stories don’t exist.

Fox News, which employed Pete Hegseth for a decade, has not covered the past week’s controversies involving President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defence secretary, according to SnapStream and TVEyes database searches.

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The omission is potentially significant because Fox is the top TV outlet for Republicans, and Hegseth’s confirmation hinges on Republican senators.

On Fox, Hegseth’s former colleagues aren’t raising alarms about the allegations or defending him – they’re just not talking about the issue at all. It’s far from the first time Fox and other friendly pro-Trump spaces have outright ignored or distracted their audience from an unflattering story widely reported by mainstream news outlets.

Last Friday, The New York Times reported that Hegseth’s own mother “accused her son of mistreating women for years.” In 2018, while Hegseth was divorcing his second wife after having an affair with a Fox News executive producer, his mother Penelope told him in an email that “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”

Penelope Hegseth told The Times that she regretted sending the email and had immediately apologized to him in a second email.

On Sunday, The New Yorker reported that Hegseth was “forced out of previous leadership positions for financial mismanagement, sexist behavior, and being repeatedly intoxicated on the job.” The allegations came from a “whistleblower report” and other internal emails, New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer said.

“The behavior described by the people that he worked with really was the kind of behavior that would get anybody fired in almost any office in America,” Mayer said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” Monday night.

Mayer noted that Hegseth’s lawyer “had two days to respond to the allegations in this story” and “did not deny a single one of them.”

Instead, a Hegseth adviser said, “we’re not going to comment on outlandish claims laundered through the New Yorker by a petty and jealous disgruntled former associate of Mr. Hegseth’s.”

Some of Hegseth’s allies mounted a defence through pro-Trump media outlets like Breitbart. But Fox has noticeably avoided both recent stories. Instead, almost all of the recent mentions of Hegseth on Fox have been supportive or sympathetic. “A lot of people are pumped up” about Hegseth’s appointment, “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade said last Tuesday. Later in the week, 10 Fox programs noted that Hegseth’s home was targeted with a pipe bomb threat.

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Some indications that the former host’s appointment is facing trouble have slipped through. On Wednesday, a guest made a stray comment about Democrats having “real concerns” about Hegseth. On Saturday, an anchor mentioned that Hegseth is “headed for a tough confirmation.” No context was provided.

In effect, Fox has insulated its conservative audience from reports that might dim their perception of Hegseth and Trump, instead offering viewers a safe space where their existing beliefs are reinforced by sympathetic hosts and guests.

Last month, the network did briefly report on a newly surfaced sexual assault allegation against Hegseth from 2017. Hegseth told police the sex was consensual and he was never charged with a crime.

When a guest on Fox said Sunday that Hegseth “has been credibly accused of raping a woman,” an anchor interjected Hegseth’s denial, then moved on. Hegseth was a co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend” at the time of the alleged assault. Hegseth’s lawyer has said the host entered into a settlement agreement with the accuser partly to protect his job.

For the next seven years, Hegseth’s star rose at Fox; he continued to co-host the weekend show and appear on air until the day before Trump nominated him to run the Pentagon, one of the most important leadership positions in the world.

In the weeks since, Fox’s opinion programs have cheered him on while Fox’s news programs have gingerly covered the nomination. On Monday night’s edition of “Special Report,” anchor Bret Baier said Hegseth “called on senators today,” and tossed to correspondent Chad Pergram, who said Hegseth’s confirmation “could be a problem” because “he faces problems about his personal conduct.”

The taped report did not mention The Times or The New Yorker revelations at all.

Instead, the report showed video of a CBS reporter asking Hegseth “Were you ever drunk while traveling on the job?” and the nominee replying “I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”

Without any context for the “controversies surrounding Hegseth,” Pergram moved on.

A Fox News spokesperson declined to say whether the network has made an editorial decision not to report on allegations against its former host.

When asked if Fox management knew about the emails that were quoted by The Times and The New Yorker, the spokesperson said Fox was not aware of the emails.

On Tuesday’s “CNN This Morning,” Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said that “when it comes to Pete Hegseth, there aren’t any concerns, and we feel very good about his positioning for being confirmed by the Senate.”