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WASHINGTON — Senators received an affidavit Tuesday from the former sister-in-law of defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth in which she says his behavior caused his second wife to fear for her safety. The receipt of the affidavit comes after Senate Armed Services Committee staffers were in contact with Hegseth’s former sister-in-law for several days.
The former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, submitted the affidavit in response to a Jan. 18 letter from Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., seeking “a statement attesting to your personal knowledge about Mr. Hegseth’s fitness to occupy this important position.”
Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, asked Danielle Hegseth to detail what she knew of “instances of abuse, or threats of abuse, perpetrated against any other person” and “mistreatment of a spouse, former spouse, or other members of his family,” among other requests.
Reed said in a statement Tuesday, “As I have said for months, the reports of Mr. Hegseth’s history of alleged sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and public misconduct necessitate an exhaustive background investigation. I have been concerned that the background check process has been inadequate, and this sworn affidavit confirms that fact.”
He added that “the alleged pattern of abuse and misconduct by Mr. Hegseth is disturbing. This behavior would disqualify any service member from holding any leadership position in the military, much less being confirmed as the Secretary of Defense.”
Danielle describes in the affidavit allegations of volatile and threatening conduct by Hegseth that made his second wife, Samantha Hegseth, fear for her safety. Among the allegations are that Samantha hid in a closet once from Hegseth, that she developed escape plans for use “if she felt she needed to get away from Hegseth” that would be activated with a code word and that she did once put the escape plans into action.
At least 15 senators — including multiple Republicans — had reviewed the affidavit as of 2:30 p.m. ET, according to a Senate staffer.
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Two days before Congress received the affidavit, NBC News asked Hegseth’s second wife, Samantha Hegseth, to comment on details of some of the allegations in the affidavit.
In an email response Monday, Samantha Hegseth said: “First and foremost, I have not and will not comment on my marriage to Pete Hegseth. I do not have representatives speaking on my behalf, nor have I ever asked anyone to share or speak about the details of my marriage on my behalf, whether it be a reporter, a committee member, a transition team member, etc.”
She added, “I do not believe your information to be accurate, and I have cc’d my lawyer.”
Asked what information was not accurate and for comment on the affidavit, she replied on Tuesday: “There was no physical abuse in my marriage. This is the only further statement I will make to you, I have let you know that I am not speaking and will not speak on my marriage to Pete. Please respect this decision.”
A lawyer for Pete Hegseth, Tim Parlatore, dismissed the allegations.
“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. 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 said in a statement.
“After an acrimonious divorce, Ms. Dietrich has had an axe to grind against the entire Hegseth family,” he added. “Ms. Dietrich admits that she saw nothing but is now falsely accusing Sam of lying to both the Court and to the FBI because of private, undocumented statements that she allegedly made 10 years ago.”
Both Pete Hegseth and Samantha Hegseth signed a 2021 court document that said neither parent claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse.
Danielle Hegseth says in the affidavit, a redacted copy of which has been reviewed by NBC News, “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.”
She adds that part of her reason for coming forward is “because I have been assured that making this public statement will ensure that certain Senators who are still on the fence will vote against Hegseth’s confirmation. But for that assurance I would not subject myself or others referred to in this statement to the public scrutiny this statement is likely to cause.”
The allegations in the affidavit paint a picture of Hegseth’s strained relationship with Samantha Hegseth. The two married in 2010 and divorced in 2018. They have three children.
Danielle decided to speak with the committee staff after consideration, sources said, but she notes in the affidavit that she had detailed the allegations in it to an FBI agent in a Dec. 30, 2024, interview conducted as part of its background investigation into Pete Hegseth.
The committee’s Republican chair and Democratic ranking member were not told about the information Danielle provided to the FBI when the Trump transition team briefed them about the results of Pete Hegseth’s background check prior to the hearing, according to two sources with knowledge of the content of the briefing.
According to the affidavit, Danielle Hegseth says she relayed additional information about Pete Hegseth to the FBI on Saturday, four days after Hegseth testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee as part of his confirmation process. The FBI declined to comment.
Separately, Arthur Schwartz, an adviser to Hegseth who said he is a volunteer for the Trump transition, said in an email on Monday, “Even SASC Democrats found these allegations to be too flimsy to raise with Mr. Hegseth or their Republican colleagues on the committee, which says a lot about both the allegations and NBC’s standards for publication.” Schwartz did not respond to an email on Tuesday asking for comment on the existence of the affidavit.
In the affidavit, Danielle Hegseth notes that “much” of what she knows about Samantha’s situation she “learned from her around the time of the events in question.”
“However, I trust what Samantha told me for the reasons stated above, most critically because it was consistent with what I personally observed of Hegseth’s erratic and aggressive behavior over many years,” Danielle Hegseth says in the affidavit.
She also says, “I believe Hegseth has an alcohol abuse problem and was abusive to his ex-wife Samantha, as I understand those terms as a lay person.”
According to the affidavit, during the marriage, Samantha Hegseth developed and executed plans with members of Hegseth’s family and mutual friends to help her escape “if she felt she needed to get away from Hegseth.”
A person with indirect knowledge of Samantha Hegseth’s alleged escape plans had told committee staffers about them, according to three sources familiar with the conversations. NBC News has also spoken with two other sources who had been aware of the plans before the committee staffers heard about them.
The plans included what Danielle Hegseth refers to in the affidavit as a “safe word/code word” that Samantha could text her to let friends and family know that Pete Hegseth was in a potentially dangerous and volatile state at home and that she needed help.
In the affidavit, Danielle Hegseth also says that one time, “sometime in 2015-2016,” Samantha did text her one of the words and activated the escape plan.
Danielle Hegseth also alleges in the affidavit that Samantha told her that on one occasion Samantha “hid in her closet from Hegseth because she feared for her personal safety.”
In the affidavit, Danielle Hegseth also details instances in which she says she was “a witness to and even a victim of emotional abuse by Hegseth” and says she “personally witnessed Hegseth abusing alcohol numerous times.”
In 2009, Danielle says, Hegseth “drunkenly yelled in my face.” In her account, “Hegseth was angry that I walked out of the room while he was telling a story. I don’t remember the specifics of the story, but I remember it had a racial slant that bothered me. He followed me out of the room and yelled at me that I was disrespecting him by walking away.” Danielle says “it was very intimidating” and that it “went on long enough” that he had to be pulled away from her by another person.
Danielle also alleges that she personally heard him make multiple misogynistic comments.
According to the affidavit, she heard Hegseth “say that women should not have the right to vote and that they should not work.”
She also recounts a night in 2013 in which Hegseth “got very drunk” at a bar, “dancing with gin and tonics in each hand and dropping several glasses on the dance floor, making a mess.” Leaving the bar with Hegseth, she says, he “repeatedly shouted ‘No means yes!’”
She also details an incident she did not witness but says she was told about. In 2009, she says, Hegseth was found at a strip club “drunk, in his military uniform, getting lap dances.”
Asked for comment about these allegations specifically, Parlatore said, “These claims are clearly and obviously false to any objective observer.”
Three days after Hegseth’s confirmation hearing before the Armed Service committee, some Democratic staffers heard information now contained in the affidavit directly from Danielle for the first time, according to three sources.
NBC News and other media organizations have reported concerns about Hegseth’s drinking. If he is confirmed, Hegseth will take up a major position in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, overseeing the Defense Department and its millions of employees spread over the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines and beyond.
The allegations also raise new questions about the scope and thoroughness of the FBI’s background check of Hegseth, what members and staffers of the Armed Services Committee knew, and when, and what the Trump transition communicated to the committee before last week’s confirmation hearing.
A source familiar with the FBI’s background check process told NBC News “our hands are tied” and expressed general frustration with the process. “We are a service provider,” the source said, adding that the parameters of what the FBI can and should look into and the time given to complete its work is determined by the organization requesting it — in this case, the Trump transition team.
“The point of a thorough FBI background check is to confirm that there is no derogatory information that would compromise a nominee’s ability to do their job. The FBI process designed by the Trump Transition Team for Mr. Hegseth has been woefully inadequate,” Reed said in a statement after the briefing, several days before Hegseth’s confirmation hearing. He argued that “investigators neglected to contact critical witnesses and whistleblowers.”
The FBI declined to comment on detailed questions from NBC News about Hegseth’s background investigation.
After his committee voted along party lines Monday to move Hegseth’s nomination to the full Senate, Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., was asked whether he is concerned about more allegations against Hegseth coming to light.
“I think all of you probably heard a whisper of a rumor earlier today, which was anonymous, unsubstantiated and was contrary to some court documents that had been placed in the record at the hearing,” Wicker said.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who aggressively question Hegseth at the hearing, said Danielle Hegseth’s affidavit refuted that argument.
“So the claim that everything that’s being alleged is an anonymous smear was false when it was stated last week, and it’s even more false today,” Kaine said. “I think the issues that are raised are A, behavior, B, honesty with the committee in both his oral testimony and in his response to [written questions for the record] and, C, honesty with the Trump transition team that was vetting him to be secretary of defense.”
A Senate vote on Hegseth’s nomination is expected as early as Thursday. To be confirmed, Hegseth would need only a simple majority, or 51 of the Senate’s 53 Republicans.
CLARIFICATION (Jan. 22, 2025, 2 p.m. ET): This article has been updated to clarify Arthur Schwartz’s status with the Trump transition. He said he is a volunteer, not a paid consultant.
Julie Tsirkin is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill.
Sarah Fitzpatrick is a senior investigative producer and story editor for NBC News. She previously worked for CBS News and “60 Minutes.”
Courtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.
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