A Gold Star family was left “devastated and embittered” after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who at one point “appeared” interested in helping the family get to the bottom of the 2012 death of their family member, “ghosted” them, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
While in Afghanistan, Cmdr. Job Price, a Navy SEAL commander, was found dead in his quarters with a gunshot wound to the head. An investigator into Price’s death found “irregularities in the evidence,” the Post reported, but ultimately ruled out the possibility of foul play.
Unsatisfied with the findings of the report, Price’s family pressed for answers and managed to contact Hegseth during his time as a Fox News host in 2022, two years before he would be tapped by President Donald Trump to serve in his administration.
“Those pictures are damning for the Navy,” Hegseth wrote to Matt Cubbler, a family friend of Price’s, referencing photographs from the investigation into Price’s death, per text messages obtained by the Post.
“Nobody – nobody – would be caressing their pillow while taking their own life. I agree, it does not add up at all to suicide.”
And yet, despite the newfound optimism of Price’s family and friends that the case might be given a second look, Hegseth’s "enthusiasm seemed to wane after a few weeks,” the Post reported.
In April of 2023, in what would be one of his final messages to Cubbler, Hegseth again expressed a willingness to help Price’s family and friends.
“I hope I can help another way at some point,” Hegseth wrote in a text message to Cubbler, according to the Post.
“Eventually, though, he stopped responding,” the Post’s report reads.
“And despite his role now, leading the Pentagon in an avowedly pro-military administration, members of the Price family say they have received no indication that the case will be reopened. The lack of follow-through, they say, feels like ‘being ghosted’ by someone who styled himself as an advocate for troops and their families.”