AP runs piece claiming Hegseth’s Christian tattoo ‘associated with white supremacist groups’

CV NEWS FEED // Critics slammed the Associated Press (AP) after it published an article Friday attacking Secretary of Defense nominee and Army National Guard officer Pete Hegseth over his tattoo of the popular Christian motto “Deus vult.”

The piece claimed that Hegseth “was flagged as a possible ‘Insider Threat’ by a fellow service member due to a tattoo on his bicep that’s associated with white supremacist groups.”

The AP alleged that the words “deus vult” have “been used by white supremacists.”

“Deus vult” is a Latin phrase meaning “God wills it,” and is often used by Christians, and in particular Catholics, to express belief in divine providence. The motto has been in use at least since the First Crusade of the late 11th century. 

The article – which is not classified as an op-ed – goes on to claim:

If Hegseth assumes office, it would mean that someone who has said it’s a sham that extremism is a problem in the military would oversee a sprawling department whose leadership reacted with alarm when people in tactical gear stormed up the U.S. Capitol steps on Jan. 6 in military-style stack formation. 

The piece twice uses the word “insurrection” to refer to the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot – even though the Biden-Harris administration’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found that the day’s events did not meet the common definition of the word.

Vice President-elect JD Vance wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Friday evening: “They’re attacking Pete Hegseth for having a Christian motto tattooed on his arm.”

“This is disgusting anti-Christian bigotry from the AP, and the entire organization should be ashamed of itself,” Vance added.

“Amen,” Hegseth replied to Vance. “Anti-Christian bigotry in the media on full display.”

“They can target me,” he continued, “but this type of targeting of Christians, conservatives, patriots and everyday Americans will stop on DAY ONE at DJT’s DoD.”

CatholicVote posted on X: “The Democratic Party and their corrupt media outlets can’t help but expose their blatant anti-Christian bigotry.”

Conservative scholar Christopher Rufo took to X to reply to Tara Copp, one of the article’s three authors.

“Journalist Tara Copp was flagged as a possible white supremacist because ‘AP’ could mean ‘Aryan Power,’ according to a tendentious and partisan distortion of the facts,” Rufo sardonically wrote.

The Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway also replied to Copp: “What a disgusting piece of propaganda you are pushing.”

Columnist Dustin Grage asked Copp: “Wait, you actually ran with this as a story?”

“Absolutely incredible,” he added.

The Washington Free Beacon investigative reporter Chuck Ross wrote: “This is how so many anti-Trump stories were manufactured during his first term.” 

“The hook for this one is that *one* of Hegseth’s fellow service members expressed concern abt his Christian tattoo,” Ross continued. “Doesn’t matter to AP that the complaint was silly, just that it was filed.”

On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he was nominating Hegseth, an Army National Guard Major and graduate of Princeton and Harvard, to lead the Pentagon in the incoming administration.

Until this week, Hegseth served as a co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend” on FOX News. He also ran for U.S. Senate in 2012 and has served as the director of multiple veterans’ organizations.

“Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country,” Trump wrote in a statement announcing Hegseth’s nomination. “Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First.”