NYT Reporter Smears Pete Hegseth with 6-Year-Old Email His Mother Says She Didn’t Mean, Regrets Sending

New York Times reporter Sharon LaFraniere on Friday published a hit piece on President-elect Donald Trump’s Pentagon Chief nominee, Pete Hegseth, based on an emotional private email his mother sent him that she told him afterwards she did not mean and regretted sending.

Buried in the article is Hegseth’s mother telling the Times that she sent her son a immediate follow-up email apologizing for what she had written, and that she sent the email to him “in anger, with emotion.”

She also defended her son, disavowed what she wrote and said, “It is not true. It has never been true,” adding, “I know my son. He is a good father, husband.” She also told the Times that its plan to publish the contents of the email was “disgusting.”

LaFraniere decided to publish the story anyway, despite several other outlets passing on it, according to a source close to Hegseth. LaFraniere promoted the story on her X account, calling it a “gift” — or purposely not behind a paywall. “You can read it for free,” she wrote.

LaFraniere’s biography boasts being a member of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Russia collusion hoax and says she was on another team that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for national reporting on the COVID pandemic.

She adds in her bio, “Most important to me is getting the story right. I am absolutely committed to treating people fairly and honestly and making sure a story is balanced and accurate, no matter how much effort it takes.”

Hegseth’s mother wrote the angry email in April 30, 2018, amid her son’s divorce proceedings from his then-wife, Samantha, also forwarding the email to her.

In the email, she berated him for his behavior towards Samantha and other women, writing: “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? She did not ask for or deserve any of what has come to her by your hand. Neither did Meredith.”

Hegseth was married shortly after graduating from Princeton University in 2004, to his first wife, Meredith. He deployed to Iraq in 2005, and they divorced in 2009. He married Samantha in 2010, and deployed to Afghanistan two years later. After having three children, they divorced in 2017. Hegseth had begun a relationship with Fox News executive producer Jennifer Hegseth, whom he married in 2019.

Combat veteran Sean Parnell blasted the Times reporter, LaFraniere, for publishing the private email, calling it “despicably low” and “sickening.” He wrote on X:

The New York Times is publishing a 6 year old private email between a mother & her son. This is despicably low on so many levels. Families have issues. All the time. To make those issues public for the sole purpose of tanking a nomination is evil. Period. Pete has children. They will read this. Their friends will read it. It is irresponsible as hell to even publish such a thing. Democrats don’t have to deal with this BS. It’s sickening.”

Parnell also slammed LaFraniere for promoting the story on X as a “gift” — not behind a paywall and free:

She’s so proud of publishing a 6 year old private email between a mother and her son that she’s offering you a way around the NYT paywall.

President Trump is right about scum like this — #EnemyOfThePeople.

“It’s an understatement to say that the media is the #EnemyofthePeople. To exploit the private pain of a family during a very difficult moment is loathsome beyond belief. Especially when small children are involved. The Hegseth family doesn’t deserve these BS attacks,” he added.

Megyn Kelly, podcast host and former Fox News anchor, also derided the Times for publishing the email. She posted on X:

ICYMI @PeteHegseth’s mom sent him a “you are behaving very badly” email during his divorce (she’s a good mom!) and the NYT is ALL IN on it. Next we will hear from his aunt who accused him of being late in sending his thank you cards after Christmas six years ago.

The Times‘s reporting of the private email comes after what appears to be a concerted smear campaign against Hegseth, a Washington-outsider, in an effort to sink his nomination to lead the government’s largest agency.

Earlier this month, Washington Post reported that a woman accused Hegseth of rape in 2017, citing a police report. However, the police report, which was released shortly thereafter, showed inconsistencies in the woman’s account and surveillance video and said there was no evidence of rape. No charges were ever filed.

Before that story, Reuters reported that Hegseth was alleged to have tattoos associated with white supremacy. Breitbart News found that two far-left veterans — including one who was involved in Democrat politics and backed Vice President Kamala Harris — were behind that bogus claim.

Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on ”X”, Truth Social, or on Facebook.