The anti-Trump media has reached petty new lows in its partisan attacks against President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet selections, including Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth and the publishing of a private 2018 email to him from his mother in which she accused him of being "abusive" toward women during an emotional period.

Yet, while the media swiftly pounced on the accusatory contents of that message, they've been more reluctant to report that Hegseth's mother sent a second email apologizing to her son and has since disavowed the initial accusations, according to NBC News.

That doesn't matter to some in the media, though, as they are singularly focused on driving a particular narrative that is overtly intended to smear Hegseth and derail his path to Senate confirmation.

A disappointed mother lashed out against her son

On Friday, The New York Times reported that Penelope Hegseth sent an angry email to her son Pete to berate him for his supposed mistreatment of women, which notably came while Pete was going through a bitter divorce battle with his second wife, Samantha, who also received a copy of the missive.

"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," the disappointed mother wrote in the private email that was somehow obtained and then published by The Times.

At another point, she wrote, "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."

She further described her son as engaging in behavior toward women like "dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, belittling," and was preemptively dismissive of any response he may have as he would often "twist and abuse everything I say anyway."

Mother later apologized, has since disavowed the accusations

For what it is worth, The Times did acknowledge that Penelope Hegseth sent a follow-up email to Pete Hegseth that apologized for what had been said in the first message, which she told The Times in a phone interview had been fired off "in anger, with emotion" while her son was getting divorced from his second wife after he was caught cheating on her with a Fox News coworker who later became his third wife.

Of what she had written in the first email, the mother told the outlet, "It is not true. It has never been true. I know my son. He is a good father, husband," and added that it was "disgusting" that The Times would publish the first email despite her disavowal and pleas to the contrary.

Breitbart, which obtained but did not publish the second email that was sent one day later in 2018, reported that Penelope was apologetic and conciliatory toward her son about her initial emotional outburst, and confirmed that she understood everyone was going through a difficult time and that he loved his three children with Samantha, who were her beloved grandchildren.

Biased reporter trying to derail Hegseth's nomination

Breitbart further reported that per an unnamed source at The Times, the author of the obvious hit piece against Defense Sec.-designate Hegseth, Sharon LaFraniere, had openly expressed her bias against the Trump nominee. The source explained, "She said that Pete Hegseth can’t be SECDEF and that she’s going to see to it. I kind of looked at her like she was crazy and wondered how she was going to see to it, but now I guess I don’t have to wonder anymore."

A second unidentified source described as close to Hegseth revealed that other media outlets had also learned of the first email from Penelope but opted against reporting on or publishing the private communications between a mother and son.

It was further noted that a decision was made not to provide The Times with a copy of the second email because the outlet could not be trusted, given its adherence to the preferred narrative about Pete Hegseth allegedly being "abusive" toward and mistreating women.

Whether the biased reporting of The Times will succeed in upsetting Hegseth's chances of Senate confirmation, or whether the follow-up message of apology and current repudiation of the initial accusations will hold more weight with senators.