The mother of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, pleaded her son’s case Wednesday as his future Senate nomination appeared in jeopardy over allegations related to drinking and sexual assault.

In an interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” Penelope Hegseth addressed an email she wrote to her son in 2018, details of which were published by The New York Times last week, in which she accused him of years of mistreating women.

“I wrote this in a hurry. I wrote this with deep emotions. I wrote that as a mother,” she told the station, explaining that it came at a time when Pete Hegseth was “going through a very difficult divorce.”

“I wrote this out of love,” she continued. “And about two hours later I retracted it with an apology, but no one saw it.”

Penelope Hegseth later told the Times that she regretted the email, which NBC News did not receive. She also told the newspaper that she immediately apologized to Hegseth for sending it and that her statements in the email were untrue.

Hegseth’s lawyer declined to comment, but shared a statement from the Trump transition team that said: “It is shameful but not surprising that the NYT would run a story about an illegally obtained excerpt taken out of context private conversation between a mother and her published son. The entire purpose of this exercise is to denigrate Mr. Hegseth.”

Hegseth denied abusing women and making an allegation of sexual assault in 2017, saying the encounter was consensual; He later agreed to an undisclosed plea deal with his accuser. Hegseth also did not respond to questions about the alcohol allegations Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday, Hegseth promised in a post about fake, anonymous sources and nonsense stories. They don’t want the truth.

“Our warriors never give in, and neither do I.”

When Penelope Hegseth was asked on Fox and Friends about the allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking, infidelity and financial mismanagement, she said: “Our job as parents is to correct. You have to tell the truth, and I’m a passionate person,” like Pete, and sometimes emotional words come out. I don’t think any of this is true – none of it.

“He doesn’t abuse women, no. He’s been through some difficult things,” she added. “I’m not going to list them by name, but I would just say that some of them, some of these attachments or descriptions, just aren’t true, especially not anymore.”

She said she wanted people to judge her son for who he was today, not what he might have been seven years ago. Most reports are “misinformation,” she said.

“Pete is a new person. He is redeemed, forgiven, changed. I think we all are after seven years,” she said, again calling her son a “changed man.”

Penelope Hegseth also said that she believes her son is qualified to be defense secretary, adding that his work as a television host on Fox News prepared him for the job and taught him to be a good communicator can think quickly and take responsibility.

Asked if she thought the negative reports about her son were a distraction for the start of Trump’s second term, she said: “To a certain extent, but I think that can be overcome.”