WASHINGTON — 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, and in an affidavit obtained by The Associated Press, she said she believes that Pete Hegseth is “unfit” to run the Defense Department based on what she witnessed and heard. She said she first relayed her allegations to the FBI in December but was concerned that the information was not shared with Congress as senators consider Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Pentagon.

The affidavit describes Hegseth’s treatment of his second wife, Samantha, 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 texted that safe word to her sometime in 2015 or 2016, which prompted her to call a third party for help.

“I have chosen to come forward publicly, at significant personal sacrifice, because I am deeply concerned by what Hegseth’s confirmation would mean for our military and our country,” she said.

An attorney for Pete Hegseth vehemently denied the allegations. Tim Parlatore said the affidavit was filled with “belated claims” by an ex-relative with “an axe to grind against the entire Hegseth family.”

“Sam has never alleged that there was any abuse, she signed court documents acknowledging that there was no abuse and recently reaffirmed the same during her FBI interview,” Parlatore said in a statement. “Belated claims by Danielle Dietrich, an anti-Trump far left Democrat who is divorced from Mr. Hegseth’s brother and never got along with the Hegseth family, do nothing to change that.”

The affidavit was filed in response to a request from Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who said he was seeking her statement to gain “personal knowledge about Mr. Hegseth’s fitness to occupy this important position.”

In the affidavit, Danielle Hegseth says she believes Hegseth’s marriage to Samantha was abusive. She said Samantha in 2014 told her she once hid in her closet because she feared for her safety. She acknowledged she did “not personally witness physical or sexual abuse” by Pete Hegseth toward his wife.

“I believe what Samantha told me because what she told me is consistent with what I personally observed of Hegseth’s erratic and aggressive behavior over many years,” she said.

Neither Samantha Hegseth nor an attorney who represented her in divorce proceedings immediately responded to requests for comment. A lawyer for Danielle Hegseth noted that she wouldn’t be commenting further than the affidavit.

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.”

Samantha Hegseth and Pete Hegseth both signed a Minnesota court document in 2021 during their divorce saying neither claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse.

Republican leaders said they doubted the new allegations would change the votes of support they are lining up for Hegseth. They marched ahead with the nomination Tuesday evening, taking a key procedural step needed to confirm him by week’s end.

“Looks like a desperate ploy by Democrats who are being driven by the far left because they know that we have the votes to confirm,” said Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 GOP leader.

Asked if the new allegations changes the votes for Hegseth, he said: “No.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he was aware of the reported allegations and compared the situation to the claims made against Brett Kavanaugh during his own confirmation hearing, before he was eventually confirmed as a Supreme Court justice.

“I don’t really have anything to offer,” Cornyn said. “I was involved in the Kavanaugh hearings, where people came out of the closet making all sorts of false allegations.”

Questions were raised before Hegseth’s hearing last week about the scope of the FBI background check, which some said failed to include interviews with those who had raised allegations against him. Democrats pushed for a deeper FBI review that could be more broadly shared with senators.