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.

The Defense secretary nominee's former sister-in-law, in an affidavit, said she witnessed his drunken aggression and that his second wife worried about her safety.

Last week, writing about Pete Hegseth’s hearing to be confirmed as secretary of defense, New York Times columnist David Brooks condemned the Senate committee’s Democrats for obsessing over the nominee’s “moral qualifications”—the allegations of alcohol abuse and sexual harassment—rather than his views on national security.

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