Fergus Moroney

BREAKING: SUSPECT! Pete Hegseth's wife under ethics SCRUTINY over consulting payments tied to a major Pentagon contractor. While Pete Hegseth runs the Pentagon (poorly, we must say), his wife reportedly has a front-row seat to all he does, and she’s been collecting consulting money from a firm that works for one of its biggest contractors. According to POLITICO, Jennifer Hegseth disclosed that she was paid for consulting by Watchtower Strategy, an influential Trump-aligned public affairs firm. One of Watchtower’s clients is Lockheed Martin. Public records show the federal government paid Lockheed more than $66 billion during the fiscal year she was paid. This wouldn’t matter much if she were just a Cabinet spouse staying out of her husband’s work. She isn’t. The Daily Beast describes her as an unofficial adviser to her husband who has embedded herself in daily Defense Department operations. The New York Times reported that in late 2024, before his confirmation hearing, she attended closed-door meetings with Republican senators and sat in on interviews with people who wanted jobs under him. Some senior officials and politicians told the Times her closeness to sensitive defense conversations was “not normal.” There’s a family connection too. Her father was a Lockheed Martin executive. He died in 2009. The Pentagon says everything is fine. They would, wouldn’t they? Spokesperson Sean Parnell said the couple is “in full compliance with all ethics laws and regulations.” He called any suggestion otherwise “ridiculous slander.” He also said the department works to “ensure senior leaders are completely screened” from private interests. He did not say whether Jennifer has been screened for a security clearance, which is a strange thing to leave out about someone sitting in on Pentagon business. A spokesperson for Watchtower told POLITICO that “it should be no surprise” a public affairs firm would want to work with a former Fox News star producer. The reporting doesn’t show that the money influenced any Pentagon decision, and it doesn’t say how much she was paid. But it doesn’t need to. Conflict-of-interest rules exist to prevent exactly this situation: a defense contractor’s consultants paying someone with a direct line to the defense secretary. It’s also part of a pattern under Hegseth. His department just handed a no-bid extension to Raytheon, a company that admitted defrauding taxpayers. It paid $533 million for an artillery plant that produced no shells. And it spends its energy chasing generals over supposed leaks instead of chasing contractors over fraud. Jennifer Hegseth said on a podcast that once her husband got the job, “We were ready to serve in any capacity.” Apparently, that includes on a consulting payroll. With Democrats about to hold subpoena power, the Hegseths may soon have to explain all of this under oath. Whether it will be before or after Pete Hegseth faces an impeachment motion remains to be seen. Please like and share if you think that this is all too fishy to accept Hegseth’s denials!