President-elect Donald Trump’s protection secretary choose, Pete Hegseth, a Fox Information host and navy veteran, has confronted allegations of sexual assault and questions on his tattoos and their doable connection to extremist teams.
Readers requested PolitiFact whether or not Hegseth’s tattoos barred him from serving within the Nationwide Guard throughout President Joe Biden’s January 2021 inauguration. Hegseth has a number of tattoos, and two are of a picture and a phrase usually related to extremist teams: a chest tattoo of the Jerusalem cross and an arm tattoo of the Latin phrase, “Deus Vult,” which suggests “God wills it.”
Hegseth has stated in a number of interviews this 12 months that his Nationwide Guard service orders had been revoked earlier than Biden’s inauguration due to his Jerusalem cross tattoo, which he described as “a Christian image.” Hegseth didn’t point out the “Deus Vult” tattoo in these interviews.
The “Deus Vult” tattoo brought on one other Nationwide Guard member to flag him as a doable “insider risk” earlier than the inauguration due to the phrase’s affiliation with “supremacist teams,” The Related Press reported.
PolitiFact requested the Nationwide Guard whether or not Hegseth was blocked from serving throughout Biden’s inauguration due to his tattoos, however the guard declined to remark. We additionally contacted Hegseth’s employer, Fox Information, however didn’t obtain a reply earlier than publication.
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When requested for touch upon Hegseth’s tattoos being related to extremist teams, Steven Cheung, a Trump transition crew spokesperson, stated, “Pete Hegseth devoted his complete life as a warrior for the troops and for our nation. … With Pete as our Secretary of Protection, America’s enemies are on discover and our navy can be nice once more.”
Hegseth pushed again on reporting about his tattoos’ affiliation with extremist teams. “They’ll goal me — I don’t give a rattling — however this kind of focusing on of Christians, conservatives, patriots and on a regular basis People will cease on DAY ONE at (Trump’s) DoD,” he wrote Nov. 15 on X, utilizing shorthand for the Protection Division.
Hegseth has denied the sexual assault allegation. His lawyer informed CBS Information that Hegseth settled together with his accuser to keep away from being fired by Fox Information over the allegation. Hegseth has stated the encounter was consensual.
Christianity and spiritual historical past consultants informed PolitiFact the Jerusalem cross and the phrase “Deus Vult” are rooted within the Crusades, which had been a collection of spiritual wars between Christians and Muslims. The symbols have modern-day ties to far-right and white supremacist teams.
The that means of the Jerusalem cross and “Deus Vult”
Each the Jerusalem cross and the phrase “Deus Vult” date to the eleventh century when the Crusades started, consultants stated. The Catholic church in Europe organized violent navy expeditions to retake management of the Holy Land from Muslims.
Matthew Taylor, senior scholar on the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Research who focuses on Christian extremism, stated that in response to legends, in response to Pope City II’s speech calling for the First Campaign in 1095, the gang chanted “Deus Vult,” or “God wills it,” and that turned the Crusades’ motto.
The concept of the mantra was that “not solely ought to Christians go and take again, particularly Jerusalem, however actually everything of the lands that Jesus lived in as rightly Christian property, however that it’s God’s will. It’s God’s mandate. That there’s a divine mandate for this violence, particularly towards Muslims,” Taylor stated.
Graphic of Jerusalem Cross (Wikimedia)
One of many symbols Crusaders wore was the Jerusalem cross, also called the crusader cross, consultants stated.
Right this moment, the Jerusalem cross isn’t a typical Christian image, neither is the phrase “Deus Vult,” stated Matthew Gabriele, a Virginia Tech medieval research professor.
Nevertheless, each are well-liked amongst right-wing extremist teams, consultants stated. Flags bearing the crusader cross and the phrase “Deus Vult” had been flown throughout a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and throughout the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol assault. A gunman who killed eight individuals in 2023 in Allen, Texas, had swastika and “Deus Vult” tattoos.
The Jerusalem cross and “Deus Vult” are “an invocation of the declare that crusader violence and its atrocities (together with the bloodbath of civilians) was respectable,” stated Tom Hill, president and govt director of the Heart for Peace Diplomacy, a nonpartisan group working to finish and stop wars.
“It’s this bloody, militant intent that comes first when in search of to grasp its present utilization as a logo for these pledging their allegiances in up to date politics — and for this reason it has been appropriated by the so-called ‘alt proper,’” Hill stated.
Hegseth’s feedback about being barred from Biden’s inauguration
Hegseth joined the U.S. Military Reserves in Might 2001. A few 12 months later, he joined the Nationwide Guard, serving in New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. He was deployed to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan and earned two Bronze Stars and a fight infantry badge. When Hegseth retired in March 2021, he held the rank of main, the Nationwide Guard stated.
Following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol, there was heightened safety for Biden’s inauguration two weeks later.
Hegseth stated in a Nov. 7 “Shawn Ryan Present” podcast interview that originally he was among the many 25,000 Nationwide Guard members referred to as to serve in Washington, D.C., for the inauguration. However a day earlier than the occasion, Hegseth stated, his commanding officer referred to as him to say he was now not wanted.
“I used to be deemed an extremist due to a tattoo by my Nationwide Guard unit in Washington, D.C., and my orders had been revoked to protect the Biden inauguration,” Hegseth stated on the podcast, including that he determined to retire from the guard after this.
Hegseth stated the tattoo that “obtained me disinvited” was the one on his chest of the Jerusalem cross, which appears to be like like a big cross with 4 smaller crosses, one in every nook.
“It’s a Christian image. That’s all it’s,” Hegseth stated.
One other member of the District of Columbia Nationwide Guard who in January 2021 was managing safety and dealing on an anti-terrorism crew raised issues about one other of Hegseth’s tattoos.
Retired Grasp Sgt. DeRicko Gaither shared an e-mail with the AP that he despatched Jan. 14, 2021. He wrote that Hegseth’s “Deus Vult” tattoo is “related to supremacist teams.” Gaither additionally wrote that the tattoo violates the Military’s rule prohibiting tattoos anyplace on the physique with extremist phrases or photographs.
“Sir, with the data supplied this falls alongside the road of Insider Menace and that is what we as members of the U.S. Military, District of Columbia Nationwide Guard and the Anti-Terrorism/Power Safety Staff try to forestall,” Gaither wrote.
After vetting from the FBI, 12 Nationwide Guard members had been faraway from responsibility for Biden’s inauguration due to extremist statements or ties to right-wing extremist teams, the AP reported in January 2021. It’s unclear whether or not Hegseth was amongst this group.
