The mother of Pete Hegseth, US President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defence, accused him of mistreating women over the years and exhibiting a lack of moral character. The 2018 email, made public by The New York Times, painted a damning picture of his character.

“On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say…get some help and take an honest look at yourself,” Penelope Hegseth wrote.

She added, “You are an abuser of women — that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his 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, speaking to The New York Times, acknowledged that she later sent an apologetic follow-up to Pete. “I fired off that original email in anger, with emotion,” she said, attributing the tone to the difficult circumstances surrounding her son’s divorce from his second wife, Samantha.

The email’s tone was scathing as Penelope criticised Pete for his treatment of Samantha. She wrote, “I have tried to keep quiet about your character and behaviour, but after listening to the way you made Samantha feel today, I cannot stay silent. And as a woman and your mother I feel I must speak out.”

She added, “Sam is a good mother and a good person (under the circumstances that you created) and I know deep down you know that. For you to try to label her as ‘unstable’ for your own advantage is despicable and abusive. Is there any sense of decency left in you?”

Towards the end, she wrote, “We still love you, but we are broken by your behaviour and lack of character.”

Hegseth, a former Fox News contributor and veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, has been embroiled in controversy following Trump’s nomination. The accusations in the email are particularly significant in the context of Hegseth’s anticipated Senate confirmation hearings, where his character will be closely scrutinised. Reports of infidelity and a rape complaint dating back to 2017, which was not pursued by authorities, have already attracted attention, according to The New York Times. Hegseth has maintained the complaint was a false accusation by a woman he had a consensual relationship with and reportedly paid a settlement to protect his career.

At the time, Hegseth was navigating an acrimonious divorce process. Samantha, the mother of three of his children, filed for divorce after discovering Pete had fathered a child with Jennifer Rauchet, a colleague at Fox News.

In response to questions about the publication of the email, Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for President-elect Trump, accused The New York Times of releasing “an out-of-context snippet” and emphasised that Penelope Hegseth had apologised for the message.

The former couple’s divorce, which was finalised in 2019, included disputes over parenting time that required court-appointed mediation. Pete Hegseth later stated that he regretted derogatory texts sent to Samantha, pledging to communicate more respectfully moving forward.