Tim Parlatore, a lawyer for President Trump's Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, said in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on Saturday that the sexual assault allegation from seven years ago (2017) was “fully investigated” at the time. , said he was “completely and completely innocent.”
“He's completely and completely innocent. It's been fully investigated. She was the assaulter,” Parlatore said in a phone interview about the woman who claimed he assaulted her.
Parlatore said Hegseth was a Fox News host in 2017. fox & friendswas invited to speak at an event hosted by the California Republican Women's Federation Conference in Monterey. After the event, he and the event organizer were at a bar, where he “drank too much.”
The accuser was said to have been sober at the time and was taken back to the room, Parlatore said.
“She took advantage of him. She led him on. She was sober by all accounts, both on video and as a witness. He was drunk. She grabbed him. She led him into her life.” He took her to his room. She seemed to be walking arm in arm with him. And then she actually put it on and took him into the room. And when the police saw the video, even though she was the one who made the report. , we considered indicting her,” he said.
“But it didn't help, because obviously Pete's not going to sit there and say, 'I was raped,'” he said.
The incident occurred at the height of the Me Too movement, when several prominent men in the media became the focus of allegations of sexual assault and harassment.
Parlatore said Hegseth didn't hear anything about the encounter for several years, but after the accuser was fired from her job at the organization, she began talking about filing charges against Hegseth and later reported to other women. They claim that they contacted Mr. Hegseth to inform him.
Parlatore said she became involved in the incident in 2020 when she sent a cease and desist letter to her accuser and threatened to sue for defamation. Nothing happened, but after about a year, the accuser hired a lawyer and threatened to sue, Parlatore said.
“Fox News wasn't going to sit around and wait for a few years for the court to decide, they were going to fire him,” Parlatore said. “So, of course, we went into mediation. In the end, we reached a settlement.”
Parlatore said the settlement had a confidentiality clause that the accusers and others with knowledge of the incident violated when the allegations were made public this week.
“The consequence of breaking that is basically the settlement is voided, but beyond the settlement, obviously she's going to owe us a little bit of money with it,” he said. said, adding that she didn't get much in the first place.
“But now she could be sued for defamation, and since it's California, California has a simple extortion law, so we could sue her for extortion as well.” he said.
But the next steps will depend on what happens next, he added. Parlatore said the accuser's lawyer would not come forward and said that if Hegseth's knowledge is confirmed, no further action would likely be taken.
But, “If she tries to put herself out there and do some crap like Christine Blasey Ford, which I don't think she will, she'll be in court soon.'' ” he said.
“Depending on how the coming months unfold, I have a number of options regarding how to deal with breaches of the agreement,” he said.
Parlatore said he believed that someone on Trump's transition team may have leaked suspicions, stirred things up, and sabotaged Trump's nomination.
However, the incoming Trump administration is firmly behind him.
Incoming White House communications director Stephen Chan said in a statement:
President Trump has nominated excellent and highly qualified candidates to serve in his administration. Hegseth vehemently denies all accusations and no charges have been filed. We look forward to his confirmation as Secretary of Defense. That way he can start on day one making America safe and great again.
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