Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wife is causing concern among federal officials for her reportedly near-constant presence with her husband as he deals with sensitive military plans and has inappropriately brought her along to meetings with lawmakers and at least one foreign official.
Hegseth reportedly shared information about military operations against the Houthis in a second Signal group chat that included his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, his brother and his personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, according to a New York Times report over the weekend.
Hegseth’s brother and lawyer have officials roles in the Defense Department; Rauchet, a former Fox News producer, does not.
Ruachet has applied for security clearance, but the White House has refused to say if it was granted, CNN noted.
Hegseth insists the information that “was shared over Signal, [previously] and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordination, for media coordination, other things.”
Yet military experts have cautioned that discussing a military strike is classified and should be closely guarded to avoid tipping off an enemy in a hacked call to plans that could have cost American fighters’ lives.
Just weeks ago National Security Adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently added The Atlantic’s top editor to an earlier Signal group chat with Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and other top officials as Hegseth discussed the U.S. strikes on Yemen.
Rauchet’s presence in the latest group chat didn’t mark the first time her husband included her in work-related meetings, and her consistent presence near Hegseth and in his meetings is drawing scrutiny and complaints that it’s unprecedented and unprofessional, CNN reports.
Rauchet, for example, attended all of Hegseth’s meetings with Republican Senators before his confirmation, a senate aide told CNN, a move which they’re “not aware of any [other] nominee for any nominated position doing.”
The aide added that female senators were frustrated by her presence because they had hoped to question Hegseth about the sexual assault allegation against him. Rauchet “totally changed the dynamic” of these discussions, the aide told CNN.
A former Pentagon official similarly told CNN they had “never heard of anyone” bringing their spouse to an office meeting, and that the move “bothered a lot of senators.”
“What I’ve seen with Hegseth – never in my life have I ever seen this,” the ex-official said.
A woman filed a police report stating Hegseth sexually assaulted her during a Republican conference in Monterey, California in 2017. Charges were never filed, and Hegseth paid a nondisclosure settlement to her, yet still denies all allegations.
Rauchet stood by Hegseth as the allegation made headlines shortly after Trump picked him for Secretary of Defense.
“They won’t stop with Pete. It’s not him they’re after. It’s your values. We won’t back down,” Rauchet wrote in a social media post in early December.
Rauchet also attended a meeting between Hegseth and the United Kingdom’s Defense Secretary John Healey last month, which one former Pentagon official called “unprecedented.”
“I have never in my professional life seen a spouse sit in on a meeting with counterparts from other countries, where they talk through substantive matters related to our relationship with these foreign militaries,” the official told CNN.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kinglsey Wilson told CNN Rauchet “exited the meeting before any sensitive and classified discussions occurred.” Wilson also said that Rauchet has “never attended a meeting where sensitive information or classified information was discussed.”
Greg Williams, the director of the Project on Government Oversight’s Center for Defense Information, told CNN that Hegseth’s behavior bringing his wife along to important meetings ”raises serious concerns that Hegseth doesn’t understand the boundaries between his personal life and professional life.” That can cause concern among allies about sharing sensitive information with Hegseth, Williams cautioned.
Rauchet and Hegseth met while working at Fox News, and they wed in 2019 at Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck, New Jersey. They have a 7-year-old daughter together. She is Hegseth’s third wife.
