Who is Jennifer Rauchet, wife of Pete Hegseth said to have been included on Signal chat about Yemen attack?

Independent

21-04-2025

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth 's 'Signalgate' has reared its head again after a new bombshell report that he shared details of a U.S. military strike on Yemen in a second group chat.
This time, Hegseth is in hot water for reportedly adding his wife Jennifer Rauchet, brother Phil, and personal attorney Tim Parlatore, to a second Signal group where details about upcoming military strikes aimed at the Houthis were discussed, according to the New York Times.
Details, including flight schedules for the warplanes involved, were shared by Hegseth in the group chat on March 15, the newspaper reports.
While a U.S. official told the Times that Hegseth did not share any classified information in the second group chat, reportedly accessed by the defense secretary on his private phone, he is already facing calls to resign from the Democrats.
The Independent has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
It is not clear why Hegseth's wife, who has also accompanied him on meetings with foreign military officials, would need to know about upcoming military strikes.
Hegseth often refers to Rauchet as his 'rock' and the pair often gush about one another on their social media accounts.
'I've missed him, but great to watch my husband visiting friends on the other side of the world,' Rauchet wrote about Hegseth in an Instagram post three weeks ago. 'He loves this country and all the men and women who serve it everywhere.'
'Grateful to have my incredible wife @jennycdot by my side for our first international trip,' Hegseth wrote about his wife ahead of his first overseas trip since being sworn into office.
The couple met while they both worked at Fox News where he was a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend and she was working for the network as a producer.
They wed in 2019 at Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck, New Jersey. Before their wedding, they were both pictured at the club wearing red 'Make Weddings Great Again' hats, resembling President Donald Trump 's signature MAGA baseball cap.
Rauchet is Hegseth's third wife and he has a 7-year-old daughter with her. They both have three children each from previous relationships.
In a recent appreciation post, Hegseth also referred to Rauchet as his 'valentine.'
Before Rauchet, Hegseth split from his first wife, Meredith Schwarz, in 2009, and divorced his second wife, Samantha Deering, in 2017.
Rauchet recently raised eyebrows after it emerged she accompanied Hegseth at two meetings with foreign military officials where sensitive information was discussed, the Wall Street Journal reported.
She was said to have been present at a March 6 meeting at the Pentagon with Britain's Secretary of Defence John Healy and Admiral Tony Radakin, head of the U.K. armed forces.
The meeting came at an especially sensitive moment — the day after the U.S. said it had cut off military intelligence sharing with Ukraine — and discussions included the rationale for the decision and future military collaboration.
The defense secretary's wife was also at a meeting in February at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels, the Journal reports, citing two people who attended.
It is not known if her presence had an impact on what was discussed at either meeting.
Wife stood by him after sexual assault allegation
Rauchet stood by Hegseth ahead of his turbulent Senate confirmation process, where he was grilled over allegations of a sexual assault dating back to 2017. He denies the allegation and insists the encounter was consensual.
A woman filed a police report alleging that Hegseth sexually assaulted her during a Republican women's conference in Monterey, California in 2017, where he was the keynote speaker. The woman said she believed that she had possibly been drugged and raped.
Charges were never filed in the case. Hegseth paid a nondisclosure settlement with her.
'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, when reports of Hegseth's alleged past were dominating headlines.
'We have only just begun to fight,' Rauchet also wrote in a post at the end of November last year after Trump named Hegseth as his choice to lead the Pentagon.