Timothy C Parlatorem, Jennifer Rauchet, and Phil Hegseth
Credit: parlatorelawgroup.com, Instagram/petehegseth, hudson.org
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared details of a March attack on Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis in a message group that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.
The revelations of a second Signal chat raise more questions about Hegseth's use of an unclassified messaging system to share highly sensitive security details and come at a particularly delicate moment for him, with senior officials ousted from the Pentagon last week as part of an internal leak investigation.
In the second chat, Hegseth shared details of the attack similar to those revealed last month by The Atlantic magazine after its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was included in a separate chat on the Signal app by mistake, in an embarrassing incident involving all of President Donald Trump's most senior national security officials.
Here is all you need to know about Phil Hegseth, Jennifer Rauchet, and Timothy C. Parlatorem, who were on the group chat.
Phil Hegseth- Younger brother of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Credit: X/@phegseth
Younger brother of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Phil serves as a senior adviser to the Secretary of Defense and is a Department of Homeland Security liaison to the Pentagon. In his role, he is required to work closely with many agencies like the US Coast Guard and Homeland Security Investigations, to make sure that there are coordinated efforts being made in security initiatives.
Phile recently joined his brother in an important Indo-Pacific tour, on an offical Pentagon aircraft. They made stops at Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, and Japan, and engaged with the local military officials.
While he closely works with his brother now, he also founded a podcast production company Embassy and Third productions. As per his bio in the Hudson Institute website, he holds a BA in communications and journalism from the University of St. Thomas. He also led the production of Hudson's podcasts, video products, and website design when he was the public affairs advisor and director of production at Hudson Institute.
Jennifer Rauchet- Wife of Pete Hegseth
Credit: Instagram/petehegseth
Hegseth's wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, has attended sensitive meetings with foreign military counterparts, according to images the Pentagon has publicly posted.
During a meeting Hegseth had with his British counterpart at the Pentagon in March, his wife could be seen sitting behind him. She also accompanied him to Germany, Belgium, and Poland, where they met with military families, teachers, students, chaplains, spouses & troops.
Hegseth married Rauchet in 2019 at a ceremony at Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck in New Jersey. The couple has a 7-year-old daughter together. She is his third wife, and before her, he was married to Meredith Schwarz (2004-2009), and Samantha Deering (2010-2017).
The couple have often been seen sharing pictures of each other on social media with Pete referring to her as his 'rock' in his posts.
Timothy C Parlatorem - Lawyer of Pete Hegseth
Credit: parlatorelawgroup.com
Parlatorem, who is the founder and Managing Partner of Parlatore Law Group, was also a member of the group chat. He also reportedly holds a role in the Pentagon, while serving as a personal lawyer to Pete.
"He initially rose to prominence through his representations of the former Police Commissioner of New York City, the men who parachuted from the World Trade Center, and organized crime figures," his bio on the firm's webiste reads. He has representated many significant figures and high ranking government officers including a former US President, a former state governor, mayor.
Named a Rising Star several times by the Top Attorneys in Metro New York list, he has also been made his place in the list of Top 100 Criminal Trial Attorneys since the past two years.
Before his career in law, Parlatore was a naval officer and veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.
(With Reuters inputs)