Hegseth routinely passed out from alcohol abuse, witness says

A former relative has dished the dirt in a sworn statement on the past behaviour of President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon.

Secretary of Defence nominee Pete Hegseth attends the Commander and Chief Inaugural Ball in Washington, DC. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon, regularly abused alcohol to the point that he passed out at family gatherings, and once needed to be dragged out of a strip club while in uniform, according to an ex-relative’s account of his behaviour that was given to US lawmakers and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The sworn statement, submitted in response to a request from Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was signed by Hegseth’s former sister in law, Danielle Hegseth.

It states that she was with Hegseth when he passed out from drunkenness in the bathroom of a bar in Minneapolis in about 2013.

It also describes another night, when she said Hegseth drank so much at a restaurant in Minneapolis that the Uber driver had to pull over on Interstate 94 so he could throw up.

In her sworn statement, Danielle Hegseth said she personally observed erratic and aggressive behaviour by Hegseth, witnessing him abusing alcohol multiple times over the years.

One Christmas in 2008 or 2009, he drank so much that he threw up and passed out, she said.

The new allegations come a day after the armed services panel voted 14-13 along party lines to advance Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Defence Department.

The full Senate is expected to vote on his confirmation later this week.

At a contentious confirmation hearing last week, Hegseth conceded that he wasn’t perfect but dismissed questions about his character and qualifications as a “smear campaign” irrelevant to the job of running the US military.

He stressed that the allegations were from anonymous sources.

The White House said Hegseth has already responded to accusations of his drinking in his confirmation hearing.

Defence secretary nominee Pete Hegseth takes a photo with guests at the Commander-in-Chief Ball in Washington, DC. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

A lawyer for Danielle Hegseth, Leita Walker, said Danielle Hegseth wouldn’t be commenting beyond the statement.

“She asks for respect for her privacy and the privacy of those she cares about including Pete Hegseth’s former wives and children, ” Walker said.

Hegseth has told senators he would abstain from consuming alcohol if he were to lead the Pentagon.

Asked about his drinking on The Megyn Kelly Show late last year, Hegseth denied allegations that he “was constantly being carried up anywhere” as “patently false”.

He pointed to former colleagues who have signed letters refuting that he’d abused alcohol on the job.

Kelly asked Hegseth if he still drinks, and he said he would not drink at all as defence secretary.

“It’s not hard for me, because it’s not a problem for me,” he said.

Reed, the panel’s top Democrat, said on Tuesday he has been concerned that the background-check process for Hegseth has been inadequate, and the statement confirmed his fears.

“The alleged pattern of abuse and misconduct by Mr. Hegseth is disturbing,” Reed said in a statement.

“This behaviour would disqualify any servicemember from holding any leadership position in the military, much less being confirmed as the secretary of defence.”

In the sworn statement, Hegseth’s former sister-in-law also said that Hegseth’s ex-wife, Samantha, told her that she once hid from Hegseth in a closet because she feared for her personal safety, some time between 2014 and 2016.

She said that Samantha had a “code word” with her and another person close to her and that Samantha had made a plan in case she needed to get away from Hegseth.

Danielle Hegseth said that Samantha texted the code to her in 2015 or 2016.

She said the code meant that she should call the other person to fly out to Minnesota to help Samantha, which Danielle said she did.

Samantha Hegseth didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Danielle said she didn’t personally witness physical or sexual abuse by Hegseth to Samantha, but she said that she herself was a witness and a victim of emotional abuse by Hegseth.

She said he drunkenly yelled in her face in 2009 after she walked out of a room when he was telling a story that she said had “a racial slant”.

She said he was in his military uniform, became very aggressive, and yelled at her long enough that another person, whose name is redacted, had to pull him away.

Hegseth has a laugh with a guest at the Commander-in-Chief Ball. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

At one point, the statement says, Danielle said she heard Hegseth say that women shouldn’t have the right to vote and that they shouldn’t work.

Other times, he made rude comments about women’s looks, and once stated that he never used condoms, it says.

Danielle Hegseth also said that she heard him say Christians needed to have more children to overtake the Muslim population.

Danielle Hegseth was married to Pete Hegseth’s brother Nate before they divorced in 2019.

Danielle said her sworn statement repeats what she had already told the FBI, and said she chose to come forward publicly “at significant personal sacrifice” because she was concerned about the prospect of his leading the US military.

During the drunken strip-club incident, the affidavit states, Hegseth was in Minneapolis for a drill with the National Guard in 2009.

He was found at the club, Seville, in his uniform, getting lap dances, it says.

He had to be physically carried out of the club, it says.

Danielle Hegseth said she heard the story the next morning from a person whose name is redacted from the statement.

The incidents took place between 2011 and 2019.

The armed services panel’s chairman, Sen. Roger Wicker (R, Miss.), entered into the record at Hegseth’s confirmation hearing what he called a family court order stating there were no claims of domestic abuse in their marriage.

-Alex Ward and Rebecca Ballhaus contributed to this article.

The Wall Street Journal