Amid Republican claims of “anonymous smears,” a named person — and a Hegseth, at that — accuses the defense secretary nominee of abusive behavior.

The Armed Services Committee is expected to hold Hegseth's confirmation hearing on Tuesday, ahead of President-elect Trump's inauguration.

Defense nominee Pete Hegseth faces questions about how he’d treat female soldiers, at a time when the armed forces are struggling with recruitment and with reducing sexual assault.

President Trump’s most controversial cabinet pick is one step closer to taking office. The nomination of Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense was voted out of the Senate Armed Services Committee on party lines,

An affidavit provided to senators said that President Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee abused alcohol and that his behavior made his second wife fear for her safety.

"Mr. Hegseth categorically denies every word of every allegation,” a Hegseth aide said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.

Hegseth denies the allegations outlined in the affidavit, which says he was abusive to his second wife to the point where she feared for her safety.

Pete Hegseth's former sister-in-law said in an affidavit to senators on Tuesday that President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon abused his second ex-wife to the point where she once hid in a closet and gave friends a code word to use in a crisis.

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,

Hegseth was voted out of committee Monday along party lines. The Senate is expected to take up his nomination soon; it is unclear how these new allegations will alter the trajectory of his nomination.

Democrats in Congress, not surprisingly, continue to pursue a mistaken and misguided path regarding Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other high-level picks for his administration.