Questions are being raised about Pete Hegseth’s personal attorney, who serves double duty with a private law practice and as a counsel to the embattled defense secretary within the Pentagon.
According to a report from the Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe, attorney Tim Parlatore, who represented Hegseth when he was accused of sexual assault which resulted in a $50,000 payout, joined Hegseth’s staff in March after being commissioned as an officer in the Navy Reserve.
In that role, he has become not only the defense secretary’s “fixer” in the Pentagon but has also taken the lead in putting together and enforcing the former Fox News host's controversial plan to clamp down on media organizations that goes into effect on Wednesday.
That has only heightened scrutiny of Parlatore, with questions being raised about his maintaining a private criminal defense practice while advising the defense secretary, who seems to be constantly creating his own special chaos within the ranks.
According to the report, Paralatore does not have a lot of fans at the Pentagon.
“The part-time arrangement allows Parlatore to remain involved in his private practice — work that included representing Hegseth when the former Fox News personality was accused of sexual assault — while working behind the scenes in uniform, in an ostensibly nonpartisan military role, to shape policy and carry out the defense secretary’s directives,” the Post’s Lamothe is reporting before adding, “People familiar with Parlatore’s actions describe him as calculating and brash, at times angering others on Hegseth’s team. He uses a desk in the defense secretary’s front-office suite, and has outlasted several other senior aides who have been either fired or marginalized during a months-long period of infighting and instability among the secretary’s brain trust.”
Noting that his “sway” with Hegseth exceeds his rank, Lamothe reported, his status in the Pentagon “has troubled some defense officials.”
According to one insider, “This guy is an officer, who also wears a civilian hat, who is also representing the secretary, who also is in the secretary’s front office, who also still has a private law firm. It’s like, who is he representing here?”
“Parlatore’s involvement in a number of legal issues has unsettled some in the Defense Department’s Office of General Counsel in particular, whose lawyers advise the defense secretary and other senior officials. In private, some have voiced concerns to other defense officials about his influence and potential conflicts of interest, though it is unclear if anyone has raised a formal complaint,” the Post is reporting.