Does Pete Hegseth Deserve All the Support for His Nomination?

Tomorrow Pete Hegseth will go before the Senate, so he will be either confirmed to be the new Secretary of Defense or not. However, no one can ever claim that Hegseth did not have support from veterans who wanted him to be their leader. They know Hegseth personally, and they know his character. They have worked with him in both foreign and domestic situations. They know that they can count on him in both good and bad situations.

According to George Caldwell, one man who has stood up for Hegseth is his long-time friend and Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia. In an interview with The Daily Signal, Bellavia argued that Hegseth “has been the victim of a smear on the part of “grifting frauds.” It is true that “the legacy media has published countless articles accusing the veteran and former Fox News commentator of rampant alcohol abuse, sexual assault, and incompetence in business.” 

But David Bellavia, a retired sergeant of the Army who received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Iraq War and worked alongside Hegseth on the board of the nonprofit Vets For Freedom for years, completely rejects this characterization.

“We were looking for someone that was young. We were fresh home from the war and we were looking for someone that could articulate what we were doing to the country,” said Bellavia.

“And Pete did it, and he was brilliant at it. So I’m proud to say that helped get him the job at Vets For Freedom and we’re super happy with his leadership,” said Bellavia, who will appear at Tuesday’s Senate confirmation hearing to support Hegseth.

Bellavia explained that he has given numerous interviews – NBC News, The New York Times, the New Yorker. None of the media shared Bellavia glowing praise of Hegseth, and only one used a direct quote. CNN published Bellavia’s comment “calling the criticism of Hegseth’s management of Vets For Freedom funds ‘absurd.’” Bellavia had the following explanation for the media’s behavior.

“Everyone’s reached out to me,” he recalled. “They haven’t used my statements because I’m unapologetically telling the truth. That seems to be in conflict with the people that have their agenda. I’ve talked to everyone that’s called me, and I tell them what I’ll tell you, which is the truth, and they obviously have a problem with that.”

Bellavia is disgusted at the way that the media portrays Hegseth, which is shown in his comments to The Daily Signal: “The grifting frauds that have come out of the woodwork that are taking swings at Hegseth, it’s just so – well, it’s Washington – but it’s just gross to me.”

Bellavia’s view is that Hegseth’s former associates are defaming his character simply because Donald Trump nominated him. [If Biden had nominated him, they would have been praising Hegseth.]

“I’ve been at multiple events where Margaret Hoover and all these other folks that were a part of the right-wing cabal, Lindsey Graham, John McCain, you name it – they were all neocons. And they all said, of our generation, Pete Hegseth is the guy that will be a U.S. senator, governor,” Bellavia added.

“They all wanted him to defeat Amy Klobuchar in that Senate seat. They all said this guy’s future is as bright as the sun. Now all of a sudden he’s a Trump appointee. He’s appointed by Trump and we’ve gotta shut this thing down. It’s disgusting.”

But in Bellavia’s view, Hegseth is not only innocent of these charges, he’s the right man for the job.

“There’s one thing that we currently do not have running the Defense Department, and that’s an intellectual,” said Bellavia.

“What’s the future plan? Lloyd Austin doesn’t think about these things,” he added. “Moreover, we’re gonna have a Secretary of Defense [in] Hegseth who respects the civilian authority under the Constitution in which we should run our Defense Department.”