Dems thump new abuse accusations against Pete Hegseth as Senate prepares to vote

WASHINGTON (CN) — As the Senate gears up for a final vote on Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense, Democrats again on Wednesday pointed to an affidavit from the Fox News host’s former sister-in-law which they said laid bare shortcomings of a background investigation of the nominee.

Hegseth, tapped by President Donald Trump in November to lead the Pentagon, has been hammered by accusations of misconduct, including alcohol abuse and sexual harassment and assault, leading Democrats — and for a moment, even some Republicans — to question the wisdom of his appointment.

The nominee, for his part, has forcefully rejected the accusations, telling lawmakers during a contentious hearing last week that reports of his misconduct were “smears” promoted by anonymous accusers.

But on Tuesday, senators received a sworn affidavit that Democrats say provides specific details of Hegseth’s alcohol abuse and threatening behavior toward Samantha Hegseth, the nominee’s second wife. The pair divorced in 2018.

NBC News first reported the affidavit and revealed that it had been provided by Hegseth’s former sister-in-law.

In a statement Wednesday, Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the affidavit confirmed his concerns that an FBI background investigation into the Defense Department nominee had been subpar.

“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 wrote.

According to the lawmaker, Hegseth’s sister-in-law had been interviewed by federal investigators in December as part of their probe of the nominee, but details of her testimony were not included in a final background check report provided by Trump’s team earlier this month.

Reed made public several details from the affidavit, including testimony which said that Hegseth abused alcohol “regularly” and that his behavior caused family members, including his second wife, to fear for their safety.

Samantha Hegseth, the lawmaker said, had an escape plan in which she would text a safe word to friends and family to indicate that she needed to get away from her husband without alerting him. She used this plan “on at least one occasion,” Reed said.

The affidavit also described several episodes during which Hegseth was publicly drunk or made racially and sexually offensive statements. Reed pointed to one instance in which the nominee reportedly had to be carried out of a Minneapolis strip club while drunk in his National Guard uniform. That detail, the lawmaker noted, is a violation of military law.

Further, Hegseth’s former sister-in-law said that the nominee had previously said that women should not vote or work, and that Christians needed to have more children to outnumber Muslims.

“The sworn affidavit from this courageous woman, provided at enormous personal risk and with nothing to gain, documents a disturbing pattern of abuse and misconduct by Mr. Hegseth,” Reed said. “This behavior would disqualify any servicemember from holding any leadership position in the military, much less being confirmed as the Secretary of Defense.”

An attorney for Samantha Hegseth told NBC News on Tuesday that the nominee’s ex-wife has not accused him of abuse and rejected his sister-in-law’s affidavit, saying that she had an “axe to grind.”

Renewed scrutiny on Hegseth’s background comes just days after the Armed Services Committee voted along party lines to advance his nomination to the full chamber. Senate Republicans on Tuesday filed cloture on the nominee, ending debate and teeing him up for a final vote in the coming days.

If he is successfully confirmed, it will be a sea change for Hegseth — whose nomination appeared at first to be in jeopardy thanks to several Republican senators who expressed concern about his experience and past statements about women serving in the military.

But at last week’s nomination hearing before the Armed Services Committee, any GOP heartburn over Hegseth appeared to evaporate. And following the meeting, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican who at one time suggested that she could vote against the defense secretary nominee, offered her full-throated support.

As of Wednesday morning, Hegseth’s final confirmation vote has yet to be scheduled as Senate Democrats use procedural levers to slow-walk the chamber’s business. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has threatened to keep lawmakers on Capitol Hill at night and over the weekend to confirm Trump’s nominees.

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