Pete Hegseth has said he would never let Stephen Miller babysit his children—an awkward comment made even more cringeworthy by who he said it to: Miller’s wife.
The secretary of defense made the comments on The Katie Miller Podcast, when she asked him, “Who would you trust to babysit your kids?” clarifying that it had to be another member of the Cabinet.
Instead of immediately saying who he would trust, Hegseth opted to point out who in the Cabinet and wider Trump world he wouldn’t trust.
“I mean, not your husband or Marco,” Hegseth responded, referring to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Miller is not a member of the Trump cabinet.
Hegseth, his third wife Jennifer Rauchet—who was sitting next to him—and Katie Miller then burst into fits of laughter to smooth over the awkward answer before the secretary of defense actually answered the question.
“I would trust the vice president. I mean, I’ve known Sean Duffy for years,” he said. “I would trust him.” Duffy and Hegseth were both weekend anchors on Fox News.
In addition to Duffy and JD Vance, Hegseth said he would also trust Brooke Rollins, the Agriculture Secretary, Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, and Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, but left out key figures in the second Trump administration like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vax Health Secretary, Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary who is both a grandmother and a dog-killer, and Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary.
Hegseth did not elaborate on why he would not trust Stephen Miller or Rubio with his children, but did say he thought Rubio was likely to get “totally rolled” by his children. Hegseth had three children, Gunner, Boone, and Rex, with his second wife, Samantha Deering. He cheated on her with Jennifer Rauchet who gave birth to their daughter, Gwen, while he was still married to Deering. Rauchet later went from being his mistress to being his third wife, making him stepfather to Rauchet’s three children, Jackson, Luke, and Kenzie from her first marriage.
After the birth of his fourth child, Hegseth had a drunken sexual encounter with a woman in a hotel in Monterey, California, which was on his account consensual but which she alleged was sexual assault. He was not charged and paid her a settlement.
Stephen and Katie Miller have three children, while Rubio has four children with his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio.
The strange comments regarding two of Trump’s top allies comes as Hegseth is in hot water regarding the controversial U.S. deadly strikes on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat on Sept. 2.
Over the course of a string of around 20 military attacks on alleged drug boats that have claimed over 80 lives, the U.S. conducted two drone strikes on one boat. The Washington Post reported that after the first blast, two people clung to the side of the burning boat. However, a second strike to the boat killed the two initial survivors.
The outlet later reported that Hegseth gave the command to “kill everybody,” condemning the 11 people on board and causing outrage from the public, with accusations of the event being “a war crime.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have also raised concerns about the strike.
This instance, however, is not Hegseth’s first scandal since joining Trump’s Cabinet. Previously, he included a journalist in a Signal group chat where he leaked secret military plans and fired top military lawyers to remove “roadblocks” to the Trump administration’s agenda.
