WASHINGTON — Senators contemplating Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be secretary of protection obtained an affidavit Tuesday from a former sister-in-law alleging that the previous Fox News host was abusive to his second spouse, to the purpose that she feared to your security. Hegseth denies the allegations.
The sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, was beforehand married to the nominee’s brother, and stated in an affidavit obtained by The Associated Press that she believes Pete Hegseth is “unfit” to run the Defense Department based mostly on what he has witnessed and heard. She stated she first forwarded her allegations to the FBI in December, however was involved that the data was not shared with Congress as senators thought of Hegseth’s nomination to steer the Pentagon.
The affidavit describes Hegseth’s remedy of his second spouse, Samantha, and alleges repeated drunkenness and a home scenario through which Samantha Hegseth had a protected phrase to point if she was in peril at residence. Danielle Hegseth stated Samantha texted her that protected phrase in 2015 or 2016, which prompted her to name a 3rd get together for assist.
“I’ve chosen to return ahead publicly, at important private sacrifice, as a result of I’m deeply involved about what Hegseth’s affirmation would imply for our navy and our nation,” she stated.
A lawyer for Pete Hegseth vehemently denied the allegations. Tim Parlatore stated the affidavit was filled with “belated claims” from a former relative with “an ax to grind towards your complete Hegseth household.”
“Sam by no means claimed there was abuse, he signed court docket paperwork acknowledging there was no abuse and just lately reaffirmed the identical throughout his FBI interview,” Parlatore stated in a press release. “The belated statements of Danielle Dietrich, a far-left anti-Trump Democrat who’s divorced from Mr. Hegseth’s brother and has by no means gotten together with the Hegseth household, do nothing to alter that.”
The affidavit was filed in response to a request from Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the highest Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who stated he requested his declaration to realize “private data of Mr. Hegseth to occupy this essential place.” .”
In the affidavit, Danielle Hegseth says she believes Hegseth’s marriage to Samantha was abusive. She stated Samantha informed her in 2014 that she as soon as hid in her closet as a result of she feared for her security. She admitted that she “didn’t personally witness bodily or sexual abuse” by Pete Hegseth in direction of his spouse.
“I consider what Samantha informed me as a result of what she informed me is in keeping with what I’ve personally noticed of Hegseth’s erratic and aggressive habits over a few years,” he stated.
Neither Samantha Hegseth nor the legal professional who represented her within the divorce proceedings instantly responded to requests for remark.
In a press release to NBC News, which reported first within the affidavit, Samantha Hegseth acknowledged that “there was no bodily abuse in my marriage. This is the one additional assertion I’ll make to you, I’ve let you realize that I cannot and won’t speak about my marriage to Pete. Please respect this choice.”
Samantha Hegseth and Pete Hegseth each signed a Minnesota court docket doc in 2021 throughout their divorce stating that neither claimed to be victims of home abuse.
The affidavit got here only a day after Hegseth’s nomination was superior by the Senate Armed Services Committee, regardless of preliminary skepticism from many Republicans. A last vote confirming him as protection secretary might come this week.
Questions have been raised earlier than Hegseth’s listening to final week in regards to the scope of the FBI’s background examine, which some stated didn’t embody interviews with those that had raised allegations towards him. Democrats have pushed for a extra thorough assessment of the FBI that might be shared extra extensively with senators.
During the listening to, Hegseth didn’t instantly reply sure or no to questions on his consuming, as an alternative saying the matter was a part of an orchestrated smear marketing campaign towards him.
At the time, it was as much as the Trump transition group to determine how far more data to assemble and share about Hegseth.
Information within the affidavit was not relayed to leaders of the Armed Services Committee when FBI officers briefed them earlier this month on the outcomes of Hegseth’s background examine, in keeping with an individual conversant in the contents of the briefing who have been granted anonymity to debate it. .
“As I’ve stated for months, stories of Mr. Hegseth’s historical past of alleged sexual assault, alcohol abuse and public misconduct warrant an exhaustive background investigation,” Reed stated in a press release Tuesday. “I used to be involved that the background examine course of had been insufficient and this affidavit confirms my fears.”
Hegseth was questioned by senators throughout the listening to about his habits, together with extreme alcohol consumption, extramarital affairs and allegations of sexual assault, which he denied.
Hegseth sure he promised not to drink on the job and denied a 2017 sexual assault allegation, however acknowledged paying the lady compensation. He was going by a divorce on the time after having a baby with a Fox News producer who turned his present spouse, in keeping with court docket paperwork and his social media posts.
In the affidavit, Danielle Hegseth additionally alleges that Pete Hegseth, whereas inebriated and each of them leaving a bar, repeatedly shouted “no means sure!”
“I took this to imply that, in his opinion, nonconsensual intercourse is OK,” Danielle Hegseth stated within the affidavit.
In a letter to Hegseth Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one other Democrat on the committee, requested him to reply a number of questions on his prior conduct.
The Massachusetts Democrat stated she was “deeply involved in regards to the some ways through which your previous habits and rhetoric signifies that you’re unfit to steer the Department of Defense.”
AP journalists Eric Tucker and Lolita C. Baldor contributed from Washington.
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