Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia stood up for Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal Monday, arguing that his longtime friend has been the victim of a smear on the part of “grifting frauds.”
In the weeks since President-elect Donald Trump announced Hegseth as his nominee, 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 Freedom for years, completely rejects this characterization.
Bellavia explained his first encounter with Hegseth when he hired him at the nonprofit. “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.
But Bellavia’s glowing praise of Hegseth is almost nowhere to be found in the numerous articles written on the veteran’s past.
In fact, one of the only publicly available media comments from Bellavia on Hegseth’s character is a one-word quote published by CNN calling the criticism of Hegseth’s management of Vets For Freedom funds “absurd.”
Bellavia told The Daily Signal he has taken several interviews with media outlets which have purposefully ignored his defense of the nominee.
“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.”
He added, “I spoke to NBC News for well over 20 minutes. The [New York] Times, the New Yorker, all these folks that have called, I tell them the same thing. And nothing’s changed.”
Bellavia expressed his disgust at the portrayal of Hegseth, telling 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.”
In Bellavia’s view, the attacks on Hegseth’s character by his former associates are motivated merely by the fact that he is a nominee of Donald Trump.
“I was on stage when Bill Kristol introduced Pete Hegseth as a future president of the United States,” said Bellavia.
Kristol, the former editor of The Weekly Standard, served as an advisor to Bellavia’s Vets For Freedom and has since criticized the nomination of 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.”
