Turns Out Pete Hegseth Isn’t Ruining the Pentagon All on His Own—He’s Getting His Wife to Help, Too

Not that we were holding out for the contrary, but it turns out Jennifer Hegseth—third wife of Pete Hegseth—is apparently as crappy, disqualified, and politically inept as her husband. I know, I know. Shouldn’t have expected anything different from someone who married to and had a kid with an alleged rapist, alcoholic, and misogynist.

On Wednesday, the New York Times published more of the ways Jennifer’s been playing an apparent role in Hegseth’s position as War Defense Secretary—expanding from the fact that she’d notably and inexplicably been included in SignalGate as one of the now-infamous chat’s members. 

Now, as defense secretary, Hegseth’s blocked women of out the military, demoted them or prevented them from visibly well-earned promotions, and erased people of color from the army’s history. But to be clear, the new report still keeps uncertain whether Jennifer had anything to do with that, besides turning a blind eye to her husband literally being the Devil Incarnate. What the article—which came via interviewing 20 current and former administration officials and sources with knowledge of the circumstances—does reveal, however, is that she’s been assisting Hegseth with tasks ranging from getting him ready for news appearances, to traveling with him to “keep him out of trouble,” to being his “most influential adviser and his de facto producer at the Pentagon.” Yikes, double yikes, and triple yikes.

It partly reeks of a similar situation last year, in which former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem appeared to let Corey Lewandowski, her alleged “lover” and “muscle” of the DHS operation run the behind-the-scenes of the agency. Except… that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Because, for starters, in that situation, Lewandowski wasn’t babysitting Noem after she’d faced several accusations of alcohol abuse.

Per the NYT report, Jennifer’s also been a mainspring in some of Hegseth’s policies, such as blocking journalists out of the Pentagon, in October 2025, a decision that ultimately restricted media’s ability to report on U.S. defense. Two sources, who remained unnamed, said she pushed for the move because she—who also previously worked at Fox News—was “eager to revoke the credentials of Pentagon reporters who felt she had written negative stories about her husband.” So, well, remember this, guys: If she wanted to, she would.

“It’s bonkers that a defense secretary would involve his wife in his sensitive official duties, including sharing details of an impending military operation, and face zero consequences,” John Ullyot, a former Pentagon official told the NYT, of Jennifer’s apparent role in Hegseth’s orbit. “Any president deserves better judgment from his national security leaders,” 

Ullyot also remembers being once called for a meeting with Jennifer, expecting a cordial exchange—and instead getting inundated with “unexpectedly detailed and hard-edged questions” for more than a half-hour. He resigned after three months.

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