Pete Hegseth’s Former Sister-in-Law Said in Sworn Affidavit His ‘Erratic and Aggressive Behavior’ Made Second Wife Fear for Her Safety

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Danielle Hegseth, the former sister-in-law of Pete Hegseth, submitted a sworn affidavit on Tuesday to senators weighing President Donald Trump’s nomination of him to serve as Secretary of Defense. In the affidavit she accused him of displaying “erratic and aggressive behavior” that made his second wife, Samantha Hegseth, fear for her safety.

Since Trump announced his intention to nominate the former Fox News morning show host to head the Department of Defense, Hegseth has been grappling with a multitude of critical stories: disturbing accusations of sexual assault (including a settlement he paid to one accuser), alleged incidents of alcohol abuse, his multiple reported infidelities, and an email his mother sent him amidst his divorce from Samantha Hegseth in which she called him an “abuser of women.”

Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and his mother walked back the email while staunchly defending her son. Nonetheless, Hegseth’s critics have still raised concerns over the allegations and argued that his résumé is far thinner than past nominees for a job that entails exercising command and control over our all military service branches, overseeing a nearly $900 billion budget, and supervising millions of people.

At his Senate confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hegseth was grilled by multiple Democrats regarding the various allegations against him, his past controversial comments, and his lack of experience.

The committee ended up voting along party lines Monday to advance Hegseth’s nomination, sending it to the full Senate where he will need a simple majority. With Democrats expected to vote against him and 53 Republicans in the Senate, Hegseth has to win the votes of at least 51 of the GOP senators, or 50 with Vice President JD Vance as a tiebreaker.

According to a report by NBC News, Danielle Hegseth sent a sworn affidavit to senators in response to a letter dated Jan. 18 from Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) and after staffers for the Senate Armed Services Committee were in contact with her “for several days.”

The letter from Reed, the ranking Democrat on the committee, requested from Danielle Hegseth “a statement attesting to your personal knowledge about Mr. Hegseth’s fitness to occupy this important position,” including details about her knowledge 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.”

This new submission follows weeks of grumbling about the swirling allegations around Hegseth, and whether the scope of the FBI background check was truly thorough enough to fully inform senators before their vote.

“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,” Reed said in a statement Tuesday. “I have been concerned that the background check process has been inadequate, and this sworn affidavit confirms that fact.”

“This behavior would disqualify any service member from holding any leadership position in the military, much less being confirmed as the Secretary of Defense,” Reed added, describing “the alleged pattern of abuse and misconduct” by Hegseth as “disturbing.”

Pete and Samantha Hegseth were married in 2010, had three children, and finalized a contentious divorce in 2017. While he was still married to Samantha Hegseth, he had a child with Fox executive producer Jennifer Rauchet, who became his third wife in 2019.

From the NBC News report:

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.”

…In the affidavit, Danielle 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 said.

Danielle Hegseth’s affidavit also mentioned that she had conveyed these allegations to an FBI agent during a Dec. 30, 2024 interview that was conducted as part of the agency’s official background investigation of Hegseth, but NBC News reported that neither Reed nor the committee’s Republican chair were informed of the information she provided, according to two sources with knowledge of the content of the briefing.

Samantha Hegseth replied to NBC News’ request for comment:

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.”

Tim Parlatore, an attorney for Pete Hegseth, claimed Danielle Hegseth was “falsely accusing [Samantha Hegseth] of lying to both the Court and to the FBI because of private, undocumented statements that she allegedly made 10 years ago,” because she was “an anti-Trump far-left Democrat who is divorced from Mr. Hegseth’s brother and never got along with the Hegseth family.”