BUSTED: Hegseth Audit Shows He Owed $33,000 in Taxes, Plays Victim

This was supposed to have been thoroughly vetted by the Senate, all these issues were supposed to have been evaluated in light of the responsibility needed to be Secretary of Defense in a nation this size with a massive Defense Department that is a small nation unto itself. Peter Hegseth had so many issues with alcohol, sexual assault, lack of experience in a sparse record, and problematic behaviors around the work place, that it’s wholly unsurprising that the IRS would find that he owes $33,000 in a new audit. The amazing thing is that rather than die of embarrassment, Hegseth is now playing the victim. It is not shocking but it certainly remains as off-putting as one is coming to expect from this man.

As we can see, Hegseth wasted no time going public with this, probably an insufficient amount of time as necessary to see whether the bill from the audit is justified and legal, perhaps taking that period to pay it off rather than scream. But that’s not what happened:

Of course the outgoing Biden IRS rushed an “audit” of the incoming SecDef. Total sham.

The party of “norms” and “decency” strikes again. We will never back down. pic.twitter.com/coW1UpFPrD

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) February 17, 2025

Yes, take right to X in order to instill our confidence that this is on the up and up. Additionally, he blames Joe Biden but I swear I have heard that there is a new president in the White House and thus if he just received this notice, it is the Trump administration IRS that is going after him, but as might be expected – why focus on reality when one can try to at least score political points?

Meanwhile, the incident fell back on Republican senators, some of whom have been very critical of Hegseth since Munich, as not having vetted this guy thoroughly enough. Actually, they vetted him plenty thoroughly, discovering a rape and drinking problem while at it, their problem was more one of voting for him anyway than a failure to vet. Still, they got it. From an excellent report by our friends over at Rawstory: 

This followed shortly after Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chair of the Senate Armed Service Committee and a strong proponent of military aid to Ukraine, admitted he was “disturbed” by Hegseth’s comments in Brussels. Hegseth appeared to back off commitments to the United States supporting Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders or eventual accession to the NATO alliance — both of which would represent big geopolitical victories for Russia.

And that got the blowback from regular commentators on U.S. security and just regular citizens, not under MAGA spell:

“Hey @SenatorWicker? Now that you’ve admitted you sent someone wildly unqualified to Brussels (with predictably awful outcome), can you explain how @PeteHegseth got through your committee w/o disclosing his tax problems?” wrote Marcy Wheeler, who is known for security analysis through her “Empty Wheel” social media accounts. “Vetting him was your responsibility.”

Well, they certainly cannot claim to be surprised. Just, again, I don’t fault their actual vetting. They most certainly did have enough to vote this f’er down with dispatch, it was only their judgment and cowardness that got them in the end. Their vote was problematic, nothing else.

Now we will see what comes of this audit and demand for payment. Some on X suggested “Ignore it” – and, terrifyingly, he could probably do it and get away with ignoring it. Little doubt. But there is also little doubt that Donald Trump is president now and if Hegseth just received this, then it was the Trump administration that put the bill to him and he ought to really be honest about that. It would be a first, this honesty thing. But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t jump at the chance. He could certainly use a shot in the arm as to firsts.

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter/X at @JasonMiciak and now follow me on Bluesky.

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