Pete Hegseth's Venmo Information Leaked — Who Is the Political Guru in Contact With?

Pete Hegseth's Venmo account was shared online, publicly displaying his full list of friends and contacts and unveiling a network that includes prominent figures from Washington, defense contractors and healthcare executives.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host and controversial figure who was confirmed as defense secretary by the Senate last month, left his Venmo profile public, and online sleuths shared his digital Rolodex stocked with C-suite executives who have serious financial stakes in befriending the head of the DOD.

The Trump official's associates range from executives of Silicon Valley defense contractors like Palantir and Anduril to healthcare industry leaders from UnitedHealth Group, including a vice president, product director, and public affairs consultant.

His ties to prominent figures from the tech, defense, and healthcare sectors raise concerns about potential conflicts of interest and the influence of special interests on government decisions.

Right-wing outlets like The Daily Wire, The Washington Free Beacon, and Fox News (where Hegseth used to work) are represented in the secretary's friends list. However, there are Democratic journalists from Politico and The New York Times also included.

Hegseth also has a history of being friends with far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, retired mixed martial artist Nik Lentz, and George W. Bush’s former national security advisor Mark Pfeifle.

As OK! previously reported, during Hegseth's confirmation hearing, he was accused of drinking on the job amid his tenure on Fox News. However, Republican Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin defended the Trump nominee by claiming unnamed senators "have shown up drunk to vote at night."

Hours later, Mullin appeared on CNN’s The Source, where Collins told him, "I was in that room today. And when you said that, I guess the thought that went through my head was, if what you’re saying is true and your colleagues do show up drinking to come to work and vote, which I think would maybe be concerning to those taxpayers who pay them, how is the bad behavior of a sitting senator a defense of someone who wants to run the Pentagon?"

The senator answered, "It's not ... What they were saying is he was incapable of doing his job. And Kaitlan, what I was trying to get to is, if you’re capable of doing your job and you’re able to still drink on the job or late in the evening, then don’t tell me that Pete can’t."

"And Pete had already said he’s not going to drink, but they would just— they just kept hammering it," he added.

During the confirmation hearing, several Democrats, including Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, said Hegseth lacks "the character and the competence" to lead the Defense Department.

Reed said he has voted to confirm the nine previous defense secretaries, including in Trump’s first term, but will not support Hegseth.

He claimed the former conservative news host's confirmation would be "an insult to the men and women who have sworn to uphold their own apolitical duty to the Constitution."