It was a few weeks later, a veteran American journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, claimed he was added to a signal chat group along with senior U.S. security officials who were discussing U.S. air strikes in Yemen. The report said Heggs shared details in a March 15 group chat, including flight schedules involving fighter jets.
According to the NYT report, Pete Hegseth shared a flight schedule for the F/AA-18 Hornets targeting Houthis, Yemen in a second signal chat. The information was reportedly sent on March 15. In this controversy, Jennifer Rauchet, the wife of Pete Hegseth, has attracted a lot of attention since this crushing defeat (now known as signalgate 2.0).
Please read also: Pete Hegseth does “huge work”: Despite a lot of controversy, why doesn’t Trump fire the U.S. Secretary of Defense?
Pete Hegseth-Jennifer Rauchet’s love story
Just like his political career, Pete Hegseth’s personal life has seen considerable turmoil – from allegations of infidelity to sexual misconduct, the controversy is far from a minority. Hegseth’s past includes multiple marriages, infidelity and tensions with his mother, who accused him of abuse of women.
Pete Hegseth married his first wife, Meredith Schwarz, in 2004, a high school girlfriend in Minnesota. The couple reportedly split in 2009 after admitting five matters in 2009. The couple filed for divorce in 2008, and Schwartz filed for divorce after Hegses admitted he had deceived her. Infidelity was listed as a reason for the couple’s divorce proceedings, according to the APM report. According to these sources, Hergs’ infidelity has caused Schwartz to emotionally and psychologically. One of them told Vanity Fair, “She was shocked by him throughout the relationship. Many, for everyone else, see them as this All-American Power couple who did something important for themselves.”
Please read also: “Try to find something new”: Trump supports Pete Hegseth
Pete Hegseth’s Second Marriage
Hegseth dates Samantha Deering when Meredith Schwarz filed a divorce lawsuit. Pete Hegseth met Samantha while working for free in a veterinarian in Washington. In 2010, Heggs married Deering. Pete and Samantha have three children.
In August 2017, Hegseth was still married to Samantha and has Gwen, daughter of Fox executive producer Jennifer Rauchet. In September 2017, Deering applied for divorce and took ten months to complete it. Pete Hegseth married Jennifer’s parents in 2019 at Trump Golf Course in Colts, New Jersey.
Please read also: A week of chaos in the Pentagon: U.S. Army Commander Surprised at Trump, Vance and Heggs’ Insults
“You are a woman’s abuser”
In 2018, Pete Hegseth divorced his second wife, Samantha, and his mother, Penelope Hegseth, and sent him a strongly worded email criticizing his behavior towards women. In the message, she accused him of being a “women’s abuser”, expressing deep disappointment and statements: “I don’t respect any man who devalues, lies, cheats, sleeps, and uses women to realize his strength and self.” She added: “You are that man (for years), and as your mother, it’s frustrating and embarrassing me, but it’s a sad fact… It’s time for someone (I hope to be a strong man) to stand up and endure your abuse and call it, especially for women.”
The New York Times published the email in November 2024 after Trump announced his intention to nominate Heggs’s Secretary of Defense. In an interview with Times, Penelope Hegseth clarified that the email was “angry, emotional” and she apologized shortly after. She further noted that her early claims were inaccurate and “never correct.”
