By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Pete Hegseth’s former sister-in-law said in an affidavit to senators on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon abused his second ex-wife to the point where she once hid in a closet and gave friends a code word to use in a crisis.
“I believe that Samantha feared for her safety,” Danielle Hegseth, who was married to Pete Hegseth’s brother, said in a signed affidavit after a Jan. 18 request from Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Pete Hegseth denies abusing Samantha Hegseth.
Reuters has reviewed a copy of the affidavit, dated Jan. 21, which also contains allegations against Hegseth of alcohol abuse and remarks that Danielle Hegseth found offensive, including shouts of “No means yes!” at a bar in 2013, which she said she witnessed.
In the affidavit, she understood Hegseth meant to indicate a belief that men don’t need to obtain sexual consent from women.
“As I told the FBI, I have also heard Hegseth say that women should not have the right to vote and that they should not work,” she told NBC News.
Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, told Reuters to read his statement given to other outlets.
Parlatore was quoted by NBC saying that Samantha 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.”
Samantha Hegseth could not be reached for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Samantha Hegseth was quoted telling NBC News, which first reported the affidavit: “There was no physical abuse in my marriage.”
A 2021 Minnesota court filing, signed by both Pete and Samantha Hegseth, and seen by Reuters, said that there had been no determination by the court that “there is probable cause to believe that one of the parents or the child of the parents has been physically abused or threatened with physical abuse by the other parent.”
The accusations came as the Republican-led Senate prepares for a vote on Hegseth’s confirmation. The slim Republican Senate majority means that Hegseth can lose support from no more than three senators to be confirmed, if Democrats and independents unite against him.
Danielle Hegseth alleged Pete Hegseth was abusive to Samantha.
“Samantha also told me that she once hid in her closet from Hegseth because she feared for her personal safety,” she said in the affidavit,…
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