Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told Newsmax on Wednesday that NBC News is engaging in "character assassination" by running a story about Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth that his ex-wife has denied.
Senators vetting the nomination of Pete Hegseth for defense secretary received an affidavit Tuesday from a former sister-in-law alleging that the onetime Fox News host was abusive to his second wife, to the point where she feared for her safety. Hegseth denies the allegations.
The sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, was formerly married to the nominee's brother.
The affidavit, which was obtained by The Associated Press, describes Hegseth's treatment of his second wife, Samantha Hegseth, and alleges repeat drunkenness and a domestic situation where Samantha Hegseth had a safe word to indicate if she was in danger at home. Danielle Hegseth said Samantha Hegseth texted that safe word to her sometime in 2015 or 2016, which prompted her to call a third party for help.
In a statement to NBC News, which first reported on the affidavit, Samantha Hegseth said 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."
Mullin told "Finnerty," "This supposedly happened to his ex-wife, and his ex-wife is saying zero chance it happened. There was never any physical abuse in our marriage.
"It's the end of a story and NBC should apologize. But this is a character assassination. This is what they do.
"This is the same thing they did with [Supreme Court Justice Bret] Kavanaugh. This is the same thing they do with every single appointment that President [Donald] Trump put forth in 2017, 2018, and 2019," he said.
Mullin, who services on the Armed Services Committee, called out his Democrat colleagues during the hearings on Hegseth last week about their stance on personal shortcomings.
"And now they're rinsing and repeating the same thing, blaming you to be Hitler supporters, blaming Trump to be a dictator, and saying that everybody he picks to be in a Cabinet position is somehow has some flaws. But every senator that's a Democrat has never had any flaws in their life," Mullin said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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