The tough questions Pete Hegseth will face at his Senate confirmation hearing

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Sexual misconduct allegation and treatment of women open image in gallery Hegseth’s mother wrote a letter in which she called her son an ‘abuser of women’ In 2017, police in Monterey, California, investigated an allegation that an intoxicated Hegseth sexually assaulted a woman — named Jane Doe in the report — in a hotel room after a Republican women’s conference, at one point physically blocking a door and stopping her from leaving, according to a police report. Hegseth’s own mother wrote a letter, which she later said she regretted, in which she called her son “an abuser of women,” accusing him of routinely mistreating women for years. He told the New Yorker that the claims were “outlandish,” citing a “petty and jealous disgruntled former associate.” Women in the military open image in gallery Trump has backed Hegseth throughout Hegseth’s opposition to women in the military — stated in his book and interviews — was simple and direct before his nomination on November 12. Let’s go.” Relationship with alcohol open image in gallery Hegseth’s alleged drunken behavior made former colleagues uncomfortable, according to reports Revelations around Hegseth’s alleged relationship with alcohol also came to light in the New Yorker investigation, which centered on a whistleblower’s report on Hegseth’s tenure as the chief of Concerned Veterans for America.