Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

BumRushDaShow

(172,636 posts)
Mon May 4, 2026, 06:56 AM May 4

Pete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to Pentagon meetings after he ousted top officials: report

Source: The Independent

Sunday 03 May 2026 20:02 EDT


Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to meetings with Pentagon staffers as his inner circle grows tighter, according to a report.

The move comes as Hegseth has faced increased criticism and ousted more than two dozen Pentagon officials in recent weeks. It also comes as Hegseth leads the nation’s efforts in the Iran war and constantly promotes the success the U.S. has had in its attacks. Hegseth has now grown increasingly isolated within the Pentagon, according to The Guardian.

Hegseth has also expressed fear and paranoia about President Donald Trump firing him, the report noted. Now, Hegseth has brought his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, a fellow former Fox News producer, to some meetings and she sits in the back of the room.

It’s unclear if Jennifer had any role at the meetings or was just there to observe.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/pete-hegseth-wife-pentagon-firings-b2969875.html



She must be Kegbreath's binkie. She and MTG could be twins.



58 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Pete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to Pentagon meetings after he ousted top officials: report (Original Post) BumRushDaShow May 4 OP
clown show Whip-poor-will May 4 #1
Might be based on issues of control. no_hypocrisy May 4 #2
Yep, look at the way he holds onto her Walleye May 4 #6
Yeah lonely bird May 5 #57
Many years ago, I had a professor bring his wife livetohike May 4 #3
Well Thank God JBTaurus83 May 4 #4
Maybe she sneaks in the vodka nips in her pocket book. dem4decades May 4 #5
I got a little chuckle... llmart May 4 #13
I still call it a "pocketbook" BumRushDaShow May 4 #16
Me too. llmart May 4 #20
The voice of my mom saying - BumRushDaShow May 4 #21
pocketbook and billfold jmbar2 May 4 #38
We never used "billfold" that much it at all BumRushDaShow May 4 #42
Not sure why we called it a billfold - it was usually pretty empty of bills. jmbar2 May 4 #46
I did have a bunch of coin purses BumRushDaShow May 4 #48
One of those mom-isms? We 50's born boomers got loads of those! Bengus81 May 4 #43
Ditto... yorkster May 4 #25
Maybe she's there because he can't remember details when he's blackout drunk johnnyplankton May 4 #7
She's there for "moral support" nuxvomica May 4 #8
Probably to make sure he stays sober. dflprincess May 4 #28
Does she even have a security clearance. Ray Bruns May 4 #9
From her bio, she has never held a position requiring a security clearance. TomSlick May 4 #52
"Hegseth has now grown increasingly isolated within the Pentagon" Dulcinea May 4 #10
;-{) CROSSING THRESHOLDS Goonch May 4 #11
Does she have security clearance? mgardener May 4 #12
Does she have a security clearance? AverageOldGuy May 4 #14
Putin's agenda... dlk May 4 #15
His chief enabler. travelingthrulife May 4 #17
How quaint.........next up give her the code book for the missiles going thru Cheyenne Mountain.......... turbinetree May 4 #18
Trump Been Lootin', evil mastermind of crashing Pete Hegseth into the Pentagon. RedWhiteBlueIsRacist May 4 #19
Apparently,she has been misogyny proofed. BattleRow May 4 #22
Kid Rock will probably be next Beaverhausen May 4 #23
Hey, Kid Rock flew in a helicopter.. Permanut May 4 #27
It would have been more fun if Kid Rock had hijacked Ilsa May 4 #31
Talk about insecure. BradBo May 4 #24
who's more likely to lie - the media or this administration? samsingh May 4 #26
She's there to keep him on the straight and narrow GenThePerservering May 4 #29
Gee, when John Lennon started doing that, the Beatles broke up. n/t malthaussen May 4 #30
oSNL needs to parody this. Blonde with pink coat is a Ilsa May 4 #32
Of course he's bringing his wife, Buddyzbuddy May 4 #33
He Rebl2 May 4 #40
WTAF? How dafuq did she get clearance? Bribes? sakabatou May 4 #34
A lovely dinner date over bombs and booze. Efilroft Sul May 4 #35
Who will play her on SNL? twodogsbarking May 4 #36
MTG...if she's so em "pissed" at Republicants then show us Bengus81 May 4 #45
I thought he hated women in the military. Guess it's OK for military meetings when your wife Marie Marie May 4 #37
How in Rebl2 May 4 #39
We sometimes have a spouse show up with a new AA member RainCaster May 4 #41
Was his mommy unavailable? struggle4progress May 4 #44
I was wondering if he was longing for BumRushDaShow May 4 #47
How does she have that level of security clearance? JT45242 May 4 #49
Designated driver Katcat May 4 #50
"Check out my wife! Now stop looking at her, she's mine!" Grokenstein May 4 #51
His emotional support person? Aussie105 May 4 #53
OPSEC! Has he even heard of it? HappyLarge May 5 #54
Is she still working in television "news"? SomewhereInTheMiddle May 5 #55
My first thought as well BumRushDaShow May 5 #56
Freedom of Speech for thee but not for me? n/t SomewhereInTheMiddle May 6 #58

livetohike

(24,442 posts)
3. Many years ago, I had a professor bring his wife
Mon May 4, 2026, 07:09 AM
May 4

to class for a few sessions. Then he didn’t show up and the department head taught for the rest of the semester. The gossip was the original professor had a nervous breakdown. This article reminds me of that.

JBTaurus83

(1,701 posts)
4. Well Thank God
Mon May 4, 2026, 07:15 AM
May 4

Now that we have the “Legally Blonde” knock off there, the Iran war should fix itself in no time!

llmart

(17,736 posts)
13. I got a little chuckle...
Mon May 4, 2026, 08:51 AM
May 4

out of your use of the term "pocket book". I haven't heard anyone use that word in decades.

BumRushDaShow

(172,636 posts)
21. The voice of my mom saying -
Mon May 4, 2026, 10:38 AM
May 4
"Hand me my pocketbook so I can get my wallet" will never fade.

BumRushDaShow

(172,636 posts)
42. We never used "billfold" that much it at all
Mon May 4, 2026, 05:23 PM
May 4

If it could hold money and any type of card (had slits for driver's license, credit cards, and even an insert for photos, etc), it was a "wallet"!

Alternately, one of my uncles loved to carry around a wad of $100 bills and he would put THAT in what I would call a "billfold" - basically something that was a long narrow cover (usually leather) with a metal clip on the inside running across the center, where you could fasten a wad of paper currency, and then fold the whole thing in half to slide in a pocket.

jmbar2

(8,184 posts)
46. Not sure why we called it a billfold - it was usually pretty empty of bills.
Mon May 4, 2026, 05:38 PM
May 4

Our coin purses got used heavily...

BumRushDaShow

(172,636 posts)
48. I did have a bunch of coin purses
Mon May 4, 2026, 06:12 PM
May 4

for change and bus tokens (and sometimes safety pins and extra bobby pins)!

nuxvomica

(14,256 posts)
8. She's there for "moral support"
Mon May 4, 2026, 07:41 AM
May 4

Because arrested-development boy needs his mommy to feel safe. Normally, when we encounter such people in our ordinary, day-to-day lives we have the option of just completely avoiding them. Instead, we are forced to witness this crowd's hot messiness on the national stage.

Ray Bruns

(6,789 posts)
9. Does she even have a security clearance.
Mon May 4, 2026, 07:58 AM
May 4

Don’t answer, it’s a rhetorical question.
Of course she doesn’t.

TomSlick

(13,094 posts)
52. From her bio, she has never held a position requiring a security clearance.
Mon May 4, 2026, 07:49 PM
May 4

The reasonable assumption is that she does not have a security clearance.

Any discussion of classified information in her presence would be illegal.

Dulcinea

(10,340 posts)
10. "Hegseth has now grown increasingly isolated within the Pentagon"
Mon May 4, 2026, 08:07 AM
May 4

When the SecDef is "increasingly isolated" that's never a good sign. He may be headed for a mental breakdown, or they're afraid of how he'll react when he's fired.

That said, Colin Jost's portrayals of Hegseth on SNL are hilarious! Spot on!

AverageOldGuy

(4,216 posts)
14. Does she have a security clearance?
Mon May 4, 2026, 08:56 AM
May 4

Last edited Mon May 4, 2026, 09:37 AM - Edit history (1)

Does she understand that what she hears and sees in Pentagon meetings stays in the room?

But, hey, a vote for Kamala is a vote for war.

travelingthrulife

(5,629 posts)
17. His chief enabler.
Mon May 4, 2026, 09:42 AM
May 4

I will never forget the first Easter party at the White House for this turd. Whiskey Pete was getting all belligerent with a reporter and his wife and kids immediately perked up and surrounded him. It was clearly a normal routine for them.

turbinetree

(27,741 posts)
18. How quaint.........next up give her the code book for the missiles going thru Cheyenne Mountain..........
Mon May 4, 2026, 10:10 AM
May 4

so that she can bring them for girl friend night and stags and wags...........and then brags that she got her top secret clearance married to a wanna be traitor in the pentagon...............

Ilsa

(64,606 posts)
31. It would have been more fun if Kid Rock had hijacked
Mon May 4, 2026, 01:40 PM
May 4

the helo alone and crash-landed it somewhere. Emphasis on "crash."

samsingh

(18,476 posts)
26. who's more likely to lie - the media or this administration?
Mon May 4, 2026, 12:39 PM
May 4

does this administration ever tell the truth?

GenThePerservering

(3,758 posts)
29. She's there to keep him on the straight and narrow
Mon May 4, 2026, 01:04 PM
May 4

probably signals to him when he's beginning to slip so he can course correct.

I have no doubt that she's the boss here - these performatively masculine dudes are always squishy in the middle and can't manage themselves.

Ilsa

(64,606 posts)
32. oSNL needs to parody this. Blonde with pink coat is a
Mon May 4, 2026, 01:43 PM
May 4

real standout on a conference room full of Army green, navy blue, white, khaki, etc.

Buddyzbuddy

(2,930 posts)
33. Of course he's bringing his wife,
Mon May 4, 2026, 02:22 PM
May 4

his mommy is pissed off with him. He can't very well bring her, sheesh.

Marie Marie

(11,561 posts)
37. I thought he hated women in the military. Guess it's OK for military meetings when your wife
Mon May 4, 2026, 03:33 PM
May 4

acts as your support animal. (thanks to whichever clever DU-er named that months ago - spot on.)

RainCaster

(13,902 posts)
41. We sometimes have a spouse show up with a new AA member
Mon May 4, 2026, 05:12 PM
May 4

But that's usually because the judge would not allow him to drive.

Grokenstein

(6,434 posts)
51. "Check out my wife! Now stop looking at her, she's mine!"
Mon May 4, 2026, 07:46 PM
May 4

Her: "I just love real he-men with Teutonic tattoos who are incredibly insecure and play fast and loose with classified information! ...Please excuse me, I have to make a long-distance call."

HappyLarge

(91 posts)
54. OPSEC! Has he even heard of it?
Tue May 5, 2026, 01:51 AM
May 5

Bringing your emotional support wife to high level pentagon meetings is just…I don‘t have the words. If I had brought my spouse to briefings when I was active duty, I’d have been courtmartialed.

55. Is she still working in television "news"?
Tue May 5, 2026, 03:02 AM
May 5

Is this basically giving Fox an inside view of the workings of the Pentagon?

From my time working for the DoD (Bush II and Obama) I remember our annual required Ethics training talking about how important it was to avoid even the "appearance of impropriety."

I am assuming that is no longer a thing.

BumRushDaShow

(172,636 posts)
56. My first thought as well
Tue May 5, 2026, 07:44 AM
May 5

Even if she wasn't, I'm sure she gas plenty of contacts to feed info to.

From my time working for the DoD (Bush II and Obama) I remember our annual required Ethics training talking about how important it was to avoid even the "appearance of impropriety."

I am assuming that is no longer a thing.


It's a thing for the lowly civil servants but not so much for the GS-1000s.

I was a fed from the start of Raygun's 2nd term through to the first couple weeks of 45's first term and every damn year, we ran the flaming gauntlet of annual "Ethics" training and that included 3 major revisions to the Hatch Act (under Poppy, Clinton, and Obama). I remember at one point when there was confusion about whether feds could even display lawn signs at their residence or a bumper sticker on their car.
Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Pete Hegseth is now bring...