Pete Hegseth’s former sister-in-law submitted a sworn statement to senators on Tuesday, saying that President Trump’s defense secretary nominee was so “abusive” to his second wife that he once kept her in the closet. He accused her of hiding it. I had a safe word to call for help if I needed to get away from him.
On Tuesday afternoon, senators in their Capitol offices were reviewing an affidavit from Danielle Dietrich Hegseth, the ex-wife of Mr. Hegseth’s brother. The affidavit states that Hegseth’s “erratic and aggressive” behavior caused his second wife’s anxiety. Safety. According to a copy obtained by The New York Times, the paper also claimed that he frequently drank to excess, both in public and private, and that on one occasion he was seen wearing military uniform. There is.
The allegations, which Mr. Hegseth denied through his lawyer, surface as Republicans rush to confirm him and could jeopardize their push. About a half-dozen Republican lawmakers who learned of the charges in recent days privately expressed serious concerns about them, according to people familiar with the conversations.
But just hours after the affidavit was filed, Republican leaders moved forward with a scheduled vote on Hegseth’s confirmation Tuesday night, and several rank-and-file members of the party called the affidavit a case of character assassination. It was rejected as an attempt. Failure.
Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota and majority leader, has begun taking the necessary steps to limit debate and schedule an up-or-down vote within days, effectively cutting off any avenue for senators to investigate further. did. And all Republicans voted to keep the nomination on track.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he did not expect the new revelations to jeopardize Hegseth’s confirmation and said the Senate could ensure quick confirmation of Hegseth. He said he would work through the weekend if necessary to do so. Democrats are expected to vote en masse against Hegseth on the floor, and Hegseth will only lose three Republican votes.
“The nomination will proceed,” Wicker told reporters, adding that while he had not reviewed the affidavit, he had “serious doubts about its contents” and that its author “has an ax to sharpen.” ” he said he believed.
Daniel Hegseth said in a sworn statement that she had spoken with the FBI about Hegseth and came forward to Congress in hopes that her explanation would persuade enough Republicans to block Hegseth. Ta. She said she provided the account at the request of Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
“I am confident that issuing this public statement will ensure that some senators who are still on the fence will vote against Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation,” she wrote. The affidavit was earlier reported by NBC News.
Mr. Reed said the description described disqualifying conduct and “confirmed my concerns” that the FBI’s background check on Mr. Hegseth was incomplete.
“The pattern of abuse and misconduct by Mr. Hegseth is alarming,” he said. “This action disqualifies service members from holding military leadership positions, much less being confirmed as Secretary of Defense.”
In an affidavit sent to military commissions on Tuesday, Daniel Hegseth alleges that on some occasion between 2014 and 2016, Hegseth’s second wife, Samantha Hegseth, “was I hid in the closet from Hegseth out of fear for my safety.”
She also said Samantha Hegseth gave her a code word that she shared with others so they could use it when they needed help. According to the affidavit, Samantha Hegseth texted Daniel Hegseth the code in 2015 or 2016, and Daniel contacted her to carry out the plan.
Daniel Hegseth said he “did not directly witness any physical or sexual abuse by Hegseth,” but described “erratic and aggressive behavior” by Hegseth over the years. She also recounted numerous instances in 2008 or 2009 and around 2013 in which she witnessed Mr. Hegseth become drunk to the point of passing out.
The new allegations are strikingly similar to many that have already surfaced since Trump selected him to lead the Pentagon. Mr. Hegseth categorically denied the allegations, dismissing them as politically motivated defamation from anonymous sources.
In a statement, Hegseth’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, denied Daniel Hegseth’s accusations.
“Sam has never claimed there was any abuse. She has signed court documents admitting there was no abuse and recently reaffirmed the same in an FBI interview,” Parlatore said, adding that Daniel He accused Hegseth of being an “anti-Trump far-leftist.” A “Democrat” who “needed to ax the whole Hegseth family”.
Samantha Hegseth shares custody of their three children with Mr. Hegseth. She was interviewed by the FBI this month as part of a background investigation into her ex-husband. She told investigators in an interview that Hegseth abused and continued to abuse alcohol, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The FBI has not commented.
Hegseth could not be reached for comment Tuesday. On Monday, before filing a detailed affidavit, Daniel Hegseth said in a statement to NBC News that “there was no physical abuse in my marriage” and that he would not discuss the matter further. said.
In a 2021 order regarding the appointment of a parenting coordinator, a Minnesota family court judge said neither Pete nor Samantha Hegseth maintained that they were victims of domestic violence. The judge also stated that the court did not find that there was probable cause to believe that one parent was “subjected to physical abuse or threats of physical abuse by the other parent.” Ta.
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The Times and other news outlets have already documented Hegseth’s heavy drinking pattern, but his former sister-in-law revealed new details in a sworn statement. As for the claim that Samantha Hegseth’s behavior was so out of control that she felt the need to protect herself from him, this is Daniel Hegseth’s argument, which cites court documents in favor of Mr. Hegseth. These are Daniel Hegseth’s words about words.
Still, her affidavit is the first time a former member of Mr. Hegseth’s family has publicly argued that his personal conduct made him unfit to lead the Pentagon. Hegseth’s mother wrote in an email to her son in 2018 that he had been abusing women for years, but has since denied those feelings.
Hegseth is also accused of raping a woman while intoxicated in Monterey, California, in 2017. He said the encounter was consensual and, although he paid a financial settlement to the woman who made the accusation, he was not charged with a crime.
Samantha Hegseth treated Daniel Hegseth as a close friend, according to a source familiar with their relationship. Daniel was previously married to Pete Hegseth’s brother Nathaniel from 2011 to 2019. Samantha and Pete Hegseth were married from 2010 to 2018.
During his confirmation hearing, Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, asked Hegseth if he had ever physically assaulted any of his three wives.
“Senator, absolutely not,” Mr. Hegseth replied. Asked whether physical violence against a spouse should disqualify a candidate, he demurred, saying the question was hypothetical.
Hegseth described various other allegations as “anonymous slander.” He never admitted any personal wrongdoing, but emphasized that he had changed.
“I’m not a perfect person, but salvation is real,” he told senators. He also praised his current wife, Jennifer Roche, for “changing my life.”
Many of the allegations in Daniel Hegseth’s affidavit detail episodes of apparent drunkenness on his part, including one in which he made racist comments that she found offensive, she said. said.
“One night in 2009, he drunkenly yelled in my face,” she wrote, adding that Mr. Hegseth was having a “concerning racially oriented” conversation with her. He recalled being distraught after leaving the room.
“He looked very aggressive in my eyes because he was wearing a military uniform,” she added.
In 2013, Hegseth drank so much at a family dinner at a restaurant in Minneapolis that an Uber driver had to stop him on the interstate afterward and vomited, she said. At another bar that same year, Mr. Hegseth danced drunk with a glass of gin and tonic in each hand, dropping the glass on the dance floor and had to be dragged from the bar, she said.
She detailed another episode that occurred in 2009 to the FBI, but said she had no first-hand knowledge of it. She said Hegseth was found drunk and in uniform giving a lap dance at a nearby strip club after training with the National Guard.
She said the person who told her about the episode told her his actions violated military regulations. That person’s name was redacted in the affidavit obtained by The Times.
On Tuesday, some rank-and-file Republicans quickly dismissed Daniel Hegseth’s sworn-in charges, likening them to the sexual assault charges against Brett Kavanaugh during his 2018 confirmation hearings, but they ultimately went to the Supreme Court. It didn’t derail my path.
Sen. Mark Wayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma and a member of the Armed Services Committee, told reporters Tuesday night: “If you look at this, Mr. Kavanaugh was at a time when everyone was trying to slaughter him and his character. It reminds me of that,” he said. “The media and those who did it should be ashamed. And this is no different. Pete is going to be Secretary of Defense – yeah.”
Democrats who reviewed Daniel Hegseth’s affidavit Tuesday said they were stunned by the list of allegations. Some of them said the FBI wasn’t doing a good enough job.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, told reporters on Tuesday: “It’s clear that the FBI did not follow up on leads and rushed to produce an incomplete report.”
Maya C. Miller, Robert Jimison, Carl Hulse, and Devlin Barrett contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett and Julie Tate contributed to the research.