Conor McGregor hangs out with Farage and Hegseth in Washington ahead of Trump's inauguration

CONOR MCGREGOR IS in Washington DC to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States.

Ahead of the main event later today, McGregor met both Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Pete Hegseth, Trump’s controversial pick for the next Secretary of Defense.

Farage – who has recently been at odds with other Trump ally Elon Musk – posted a photo of himself and McGregor on Instagram yesterday with the caption ‘We are so back’.

McGregor shared the same image with the same caption on X (formerly Twitter). 

McGregor also met Hegseth at an event last night.

Hegseth, one of the most controversial among Trump’s picks for his new Cabinet, is a former Army National Guard officer and ex-Fox News host.

Advertisement

He has faced allegations of sexual assault, financial misconduct and excessive drinking, and lingering questions over his views on women in the military.

At a confirmation hearing last week, Hegseth was questioned by US senators about these issues.

When asked about the sexual assault allegations, Hegseth referred to them as “a coordinated smear campaign”, which he said had also been targeted against Trump by the “left-wing media”.

“False attacks, anonymous attacks,” is how he described the reports.

Later in the hearing, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine refuted Hegseth’s claim that the accusations were anonymous.

“You claim that this was all anonymous? We have seen records with names attached to all of these, including the name of your own mother,” Kaine said, adding: “So don’t make this into some anonymous press thing.”

High Court ruling last week 

Last Thursday, a High Court judge ordered McGregor not to disseminate any CCTV footage that was shown during the civil trial taken against him by Nikita Hand.

Mr Justice Alexander Owens also directed that McGregor return any copies of the footage or other material discovered during the course of the litigation to his solicitors and arrange for the permanent deletion of any copies he has.

In November last year, McGregor was deemed liable for sexually assaulting Hand in the Beacon Hotel on 9 December 2018, with the jury in the case awarding her over €248,000 in damages.

Related Reads

What will Trump's inauguration look like after the last-minute decision to move it indoors?

McGregor, who has previously shared far-right talking points online, is understood to be considering a future in politics. He often adds the hashtag #VoteMcGregor to his posts on social media.

Trump is due to be inaugurated at around 5pm Irish time.

McGregor, Hegseth and Farage are all expected to attend. So too are Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Dana White.

White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), was earlier this month elected to the board of Meta, Zuckerberg’s company which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

McGregor recently confirmed he plans to make a UFC comeback in June. 

Contains reporting from © AFP 2025  

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Learn More Support The Journal