Jennifer Rauchet held no official role in the Trump administration at the time and only stayed in the meeting for introductions, a Pentagon spokesperson said

NEED TO KNOW

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wife attended a sensitive Pentagon meeting that left British officials uneasy as they discussed risks to their personnel on the ground in Ukraine amid the war with Russia, according to a new report from The New York Times.

Jennifer Rauchet, who held no official role in the Trump administration at the time, was only at the meeting for introductions, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told The Times in response to its report on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

British officials allegedly waited for Rauchet to leave before going into greater detail about their officers on the ground, per the outlet.

However, a former Pentagon official who emerged as a critic after leaving the administration last year told The Times “it’s bonkers that a defense secretary would involve his wife in his sensitive official duties.”

John Ullyot, Parnell’s predecessor as the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, said President Donald Trump “deserves better judgment from his national security leaders,” the outlet reported.

The veteran of Trump’s first administration also raised questions about the defense secretary facing “zero consequences” following Rauchet’s inclusion in sensitive meetings and discussions of military operations — including the infamous Signal group chat of senior Trump officials planning strikes on Yemen last year that accidentally included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine.

“John, who was exiled from the MAGA movement by Donald Trump Jr., is acting like a crazy ex, and quite frankly it’s embarrassing!” acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez wrote on X in response to The Times report. “He was terrible at his job and now lashes out at the Secretary any chance he gets. He should accept this administration wasn’t that into him and move on with his sad life.”

Valdez included a screenshot of a post by the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who wrote that Ullyot was “officially exiled from our movement” after he left the Pentagon in April 2025.

Rauchet’s attendance at the meeting with the British officials, including the then-leader of the U.K. armed forces, was originally reported by The Wall Street Journal in March 2025; however, The Times’ report noted that the meeting involved discussion of British officers on the ground in Ukraine.

“Secretary Hegseth has one of the highest levels of classification access,” Delaware Sen. Chris Coons said last year, according to the Times. “He can’t just hand that to his wife and say, ‘Here, honey, hold my beer, and hold my classified information.’ ”

Ullyot said the secretary’s wife grilled him for 40 minutes when he was being vetted for the Pentagon job, and The Washington Post reported last year that she participated in a meeting of European officials aligned with Ukraine in Brussels alongside her husband.

Earlier this month, the couple joined Trump in the Oval Office as the president signed an executive order naming Rauchet the chair of the newly formed Presidential Military Spouse Commission. Trump described her as “highly respected.”

The pair met while working at Fox News. The defense secretary was an on-air host, and Rauchet was a longtime producer and executive who worked with her future husband for years. They were both married with children when they first met.

Hegseth’s then-wife Samantha Deering, the mother of three of his children, filed for divorce in 2017 after he fathered a child with Rauchet, Vanity Fair reported in 2024. Hegseth and Rauchet married in 2019 at one of Trump’s New Jersey golf courses, according to Hegseth’s Instagram.As nominee for defense secretary in late 2024, Hegseth brought his wife with him to meet with senators as questions swirled about his qualifications, sexual assault allegations, and alleged excessive drinking.