US Senators receive affidavit alleging Trump's pick for Defence Secretary abused his ex-wife

Senators vetting the nomination of Pete Hegseth for Defence Secretary received an affidavit on Tuesday from a former sister-in-law alleging that he was abusive to his second wife.

The affidavit said the once Fox News host was abusive to the degree where his former wife feared for her safety.

The sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, was formerly married to the nominee’s brother and in an affidavit obtained by the Associated Press, says she believes Pete is “unfit” to run the Defence Department.

The affidavit describes Hegseth’s treatment of his second wife, Samantha, alleging that Trump’s nominee displayed patterns of repeated drunkenness and a domestic situation.

Danielle says Samantha had picked a safe word to indicate if she was ever in any danger at home, which she texted to her sometime in 2015 or 2016. Danielle says she immediately called a third-party for help upon receiving the safe word.

“I have chosen to come forward publicly, at significant personal sacrifice, because I am deeply concerned by what Hegseth’s confirmation would mean for our military and our country,” said Danielle Hegseth.

An attorney for Pete Hegseth vehemently denies the allegations. Tim Parlatore says the affidavit was filled with “belated claims” by an ex-relative with an “axe to grind against the entire Hegseth family”.

“Sam has never alleged that there was any abuse, she signed court documents acknowledging that there was no abuse and recently reaffirmed the same during her FBI interview,” Parlatore said in a statement.

“Belated claims by Danielle Dietrich, an anti-Trump far left Democrat who is divorced from Mr. Hegseth’s brother and never got along with the Hegseth family, do nothing to change that,” he added.

The affidavit was filed after Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island – the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee – sought her statement to gain personal insight and assess Hegseth’s fitness to occupy the important position.

Hegseth’s sister-in-law says she first relayed her allegation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Concerned the information was not shared with Congress as senators considered Pete’s nomination, she opted to share the allegations with them too.

Danielle said in her affidavit that she believes wholeheartedly that Pete’s marriage to Samantha was abusive. She explained that one time back in 2014, Samantha had shared with her that she hid in a closet fearing for her safety. She did acknowledge however that she did not personally witness any physical or sexual abuse by Pete toward his ex-wife.

She also moved to label Pete’s behaviour as “erratic and aggressive”, detailing that he’s exhibited those tendencies for “many years”.

She also accused him in his affidavit for allegedly endorsing non-consensual sex. She says that Pete, while under the influence of alcohol as the two of them left a bar repeatedly shouted, “no means yes!”.

“I took this to mean that, in his opinion, nonconsensual sex is ok,” Danielle Hegseth said in the affidavit.

Republican leaders say they doubt the new allegations would change the votes of support they’re lining up for Hegseth. They marched ahead with the nomination on Tuesday evening, taking a key procedural step needed to confirm his appointment by the weekend.