Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on the Pete Hegseth allegations

There’s more trouble with Donald Trump’s cabinet picks. 

Allegations have come out about Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. 

Reports reveal that he was twice ousted from military organisations he led for financial mismanagement and improper behaviour, as well as allegations of sexual assault from 2017. 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that in an email following Hegseth’s divorce in 2016, his mother wrote that she has no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego – saying that he was that man. 

Arnold says that she says she retracted her remarks a day later in a separate email, having written it “in anger”.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Stateside, Richard, how are you?

Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm well?

Speaker 3 (00:02):
Good? Is?

Speaker 1 (00:02):
I was pondering a moment to go higg Seth as
he ab gates two point zero.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
I don't know. He's got a few issues though. As
the madness continues from the Capitol here, as Trump choices
for defense and security posts are raising, well a few
more questions. Aren't they doing the rounds right now? Is
Hecseth the Trump pick for Defense secretary? The biggest military
enterprise and existence? Of course, the New Yorker magazine has
come out with the disclosure that Pete Heigseth was forced

(00:29):
out of a couple of leadership roles in two military
veterans associations. This was they say, he used money from
the organizations to party, including one where he took his
staff as to a strip club and had to be
restrained apparently from jumping on stage with the dancing strippers.
While at another Veterans of the event, he got quote
totally slashed and had to be literally carried back to
his room. This in addition to the twenty seventeen sexual

(00:52):
assault allegation against him. Then there's the New York Toomes
publication of an email that heg Seth's mother sent to
him during this fellow's apparently difficult divorce in twenty sixteen,
His mum wrote, in part, quote, I have no respect
for any man that belittles, lies, sheets, sleeps around, and
uses women for his own parent ego. You are that man.

(01:12):
End quote. She continued quote. We are on the side
of good and that is not you. We still love you,
but we are broken by your behavior and lack of
character on behalf of all the women, and I know
it's many you have abused in some way. I say,
get some help. In quote, his mum now is backing
away from this. Now has become public, and so she
retracted her remarks. A day later, she insists, so the

(01:35):
senators looking into his confirmation can assessful of that. Meantime,
Cash Betel, whom Trump has chosen to head the FBI,
where its enormous police powers, has been calling for top
FBI officials to be fired unless they are loyal to
the incoming president. In his twenty twenty three book entitled
Government Gangsters, he also includes an enemy's list. There are

(01:55):
sixty names of folks whom he calls members of the
deep state. She has this list, including the names of
the outgoing president Joe Biden, VP Coumway Harrison. On the
Battel Enemy's list is Bill bar transformer Attorney general now
a Trump critic, John Bolton, a former national security advisor
under Trump, now also a critic many lower level national
security figures. And Chris Ray, the current FBI director. So

(02:17):
it seems his confirmation hearings ahead going to be pretty interesting.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Right.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
So now one of your high drama stories, Richard, woman
no breaks lake? Yeah, what to do?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Right? This is all pretty amazing. This woman in Illinois
was driving in the early morning hours in his small
town as the south of Chicago breaks faiut she found
herself in a runaway car heading for a freezing lake.
She had the wherewithal who would be able to do this.
She was able to call police emergency and need how
my breaks last, stop, my corbold stop, my brakes aren't working. Yeah.

(02:50):
If she went into the frigid laker, chances of getting
out would be slim. So it is something that with
all this going on, she was sounding at times relatively come,
I'm twenty I cannot die today. Yeah, twenty weeks pregnant.
The police operator also remained relatively cool through it all.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
You need to turn now, I'm scared. Turn right at
the next road. Okay. If you don't turn, you're gonna
go into a lake. We need you to turn. Okay.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's when highway police arrived, and there was only one
thing to do. When of the police cars moved in
front of this woman's vehicle, so they backed into the thing.
Yeah I didn't mean to. It was the plan, of course,
the only way to save her life, police said, spray
out to make sure she was fine.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Ran up to that vehicle to make sure that it
was in park and that the driver was okay.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, she's good. The two cars a bit deaded, but
right place, right time for this police intervention.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Fantastic, see in front of my Richard Donald State. So
she wasn't quite as calm by the individual, was she
really when you think about it. By the way, Gavin Newsom,
he's called a special legislative sision This is in California,
a to safe California from potential federal overreach. So what
they're doing is creating a new litigation fund of up
to twenty five million to support California's legal resources in

(04:10):
anticipation of policy proposals that would harm the state, and
you know what he's talking about. Of course. Meantime, Ontario,
while Justin's been down at marri Lago having dinner with
Donald Ontario, which is the biggest trading part of Canada
with the United States worried about these twenty five percent
tariffs led by Doug Ford.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
It's like a.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Family member stabbing you right in the heart, he said. Anyway,
they've got about half a billion dollars worth of trade. Anyway,
They've launched an ad campaign which is there's going to
be signs at Washington, DC airports, They're going to be
on billboards, going to feature on Fox Sport apps in
key states, Run America advertised during the Football League games,
and on Fox News advertising the fact that you don't

(04:52):
want to put tariffs on Canadian goods. I'm just not sure.
I Mean, I love advertising and all that sort of stuff,
but I'm not sure you're going to change Trump's mind
with an campaign.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
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