Tuberville praises defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth amid misconduct allegations
Following his meeting Monday with Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville told reporters Hegseth would be "great" for the position.
Tuberville said he didn't talk with Hegseth about his "personal" life on Monday, but later clarified that they indeed spoke on the phone about the misconduct allegations against Hegseth.
"I'm gonna leave the personal stuff between y'all and him whenever he has an opportunity to sit down with you and explain, you know, the allegations that you're all pushing out," Tuberville told reporters.
In 2017, Hegseth paid a settlement agreement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault, Tim Parlatore, an attorney for Hegseth, previously confirmed. Parlatore claimed Hegseth was the victim of "blackmail" and "false claims of sexual assault," and said he paid the settlement only because he feared his career would suffer if her allegations were made public.
According to a 22-page police report obtained by ABC News, Hegseth's accuser told police that he took her phone and blocked her from leaving his hotel room on the night of the incident.
On Sunday, the New Yorker published an investigation into Hegseth that alleged that "a trail of documents, corroborated by the accounts of former colleagues, indicates that Hegseth was forced to step down by both of the two nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran -- Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America -- in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct."
The New York Times published an email Friday that Hegseth's mother, Penelope Hegseth, sent him in 2018, saying he had routinely mistreated women for years. Penelope Hegseth confirmed the contents of the email to the New York Times in a phone interview, but said in the interview to the Times that she regretted her original sentiments expressed in the email and sent her son an immediate follow-up email expressing regret for what she had said.
ABC News has not independently confirmed the New Yorker or New York Times' reporting.
Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Tuberville praised Hegseth and sidestepped questions about his alleged pattern of misconduct.
"I've known him for a while. Pete's the type of guy that he's going to work. He's got a great work ethic. He's very, very smart. He understands the business side as well as the military side." Tuberville said. "He's actually fought in wars. He is a good age too. Somebody that can relate to the young men and women that we need to recruit in the military."
Asked if any of the allegations in the New Yorker article concerned him, Tuberville left the explanation up to Hegseth.
"Well, I'm gonna leave that to his explanation of all that. I can't comment on that," he said. "Obviously, if it's to a certain degree, people are not going to vote to confirm it, but what I know when I talk to him about what I've read, what I've studied and been around him, I'll vote for him."
As Tuberville took question after question on Hegseth's allegations, he was asked if Hegseth needed to defend himself forcefully and provide an explanation to the American people.
"That's up to him," Tuberville said. "Eventually he's gonna have to come out and start visiting with the media. I think, right now, his number one objective is to go out and and sell himself to you know, at least 51 or 52 Senators. That's the job he needs to do to get confirmed."
Tuberville mentioned a dozen of senators are meeting with Hegseth as a group Monday night, but he did not elaborate further.
