President-elect Donald Trump nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, paid a woman who accuse him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure agreement.
According to The Washington Post, the alleged assault took place in a California hotel in 2017 after a California Federation of Republican Women conference.
Last week, a friend of the alleged victim sent a detailed memo to the Trump transition team alleging that Hegseth raped the then-30-year-old conservative group staffer in his room after drinking at a hotel bar.
The victim recalled the rape the day after it happened and went to the emergency room where a rape kit tested “positive for semen.” Hegseth maintains that the encounter was consensual.
Police investigated the incident but no charges were filed again Hegseth.
In a statement to the Post on Saturday, Hegseth’s attorney Timothy Parlatore confirmed he paid the victim but it was because he feared that if she came forward it “would result in his immediate termination from Fox.”
Parlatore argued that it was Hegseth who was “visibly intoxicated” at the time of the incident, and that police concluded that “the Complainant had been the aggressor in the encounter.”
Police have not confirmed that assertion, the Post noted.
Despite the accusation, the Trump transition team is sticking with the Fox News host as their nominee to lead the department of defense.
“President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration,” spokesperson Steven During said. “Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed. We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again.”
