Did Pete Hegseth—Fox News host and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense—visit Ground Zero “in his underwear”? A viral Facebook post by Occupy Democrats with more than 12,000 likes claims so.
“Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense. Visiting the 9/11 Memorial in his underwear,” the post says. “The Pentagon has nothing to worry about. Our armed forces have longed to be led by a drunk, rapist in his underwear!”
The claim is false: The photo is from a military charity event that Hegseth participated in in 2019, and Hegseth’s Fox & Friends colleagues covered his involvement in the event at the time.
In 2019, Hegseth joined 32 Navy SEALs for a charity event in New York City. During the event, current and former U.S. service members swam from Liberty State Park in New Jersey to Battery Park in Manhattan and then ran with flags to a memorial honoring special forces members who served during the war on terror. The swim raised money for homeless veterans in New York City. While Hegseth is not a Navy SEAL veteran, he did serve for more than a decade in the Minnesota National Guard, including deployments to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The event is run each year by the Navy SEAL Foundation, a charity that supports Navy SEAL veterans and their families. According to the foundation, the event is made up of several stretches of swimming and running, separated by sets of pushups and pullups.
Participants will enter the Hudson River at Liberty State Park, NJ, and swim to the Statue of Liberty, where they do 100 honor pushups and 22 pull-ups for our nation’s freedoms and civil liberties. Participants then swim from the Statue of Liberty to Ellis Island, where they do 100 honor pushups and 22 pull-ups for our nation’s diversity and all those who came to our nation seeking a better life. Participants then swim across the Hudson River to Battery Park, Manhattan, NYC, where they grab American Flags and run to the World Trade Center in Manhattan, NYC. At the World Trade Center, participants do 100 honor pushups and 22 pull-ups to honor all those who lost their lives on 9/11, Extortion 17, and all Americans who put it on the line for our nation.
While the claim about Hegseth’s lack of decorum at the 9/11 memorial is false, it’s worth noting that he has faced allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse as the post implies.
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