(NewsNation) — According to The New York Times, Pete Hegseth’s mother sent him an email in 2018, accusing President-elect Trump’s Defense Secretary pick of “routinely mistreating women for years.”

Penelope Hegseth told The Times that their publishing of the email was “disgusting,” She added a follow-up message was sent to her son wherein she apologized, admitting the initial email was sent “in anger, with emotion” amid Hegseth’s divorce from his second wife.

According to The Times. Penelope Hegseth wrote to her son in the initial email: “On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say … get some help and take an honest look at yourself.

“I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”

Speaking with The Times, Penelope Hegseth said her 2018 email did not reflect Hegseth’s character.

“It is not true. It has never been true,” she told The Times. “I know my son. He is a good father, husband,” she said.

Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung described The Times’ publishing of the email as “despicable.”

“The New York Times is despicable for using an out-of-context snippet of an illegally-obtained private email exchange between a mother and her son that does not accurately reflect the entirety of the conversation,” Cheung said in an emailed statement to The Hill.

“In subsequent emails, Mrs. Hegseth expressed regret for her emotional message and apologized,” he added.

The Times said they obtained the email through someone close to the Hegseth family.