Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of defense, claims he was intimidated during the #MeToo movement and paid his accusers to keep quiet, his lawyer Timothy Parlatore said in a post. told the paper.
Hegseth, who worked as a Fox News host before being picked by President Trump to serve in his cabinet, paid an undisclosed amount to a woman who accused him of sexual assault, which he claims was consensual. admitted the lawyer.
“Basically, he was completely innocent. He did nothing wrong here,” Parlatore said. “We went through mediation and ended up settling for a lot less than she wanted, which should have made up for it.”
Last week, Trump's transition team received a memo from a friend of the accuser detailing the accusations against Trump's surprise nomination to lead the Pentagon. The Washington Post reported.
The incident took place on October 7, 2017 in Monterey, California, and involved an unidentified staff member at a conservative organization who allegedly raped Ms. Hegseth, now 44, in a hotel room after a night of drinking at a bar. . She was in her 30s at the time.
At the time, Ms. Hegseth was staying at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa after speaking at the California Republican Women's Conference.
Parlatore declined to reveal the amount she paid or the identity of the woman, but she claimed she was sober and pursued Hegseth.
“He had been drinking too much, and based on video surveillance and witness testimony, this woman, who was sober, took advantage of him and she was the perpetrator,” he said.
“She grabbed him by the arm and took him to her room.”
But according to the Washington Post, a memo of the incident sent to the transition team, which the paper did not independently obtain, said she was responsible for making sure Hegseth returned to the airport the next day. has been done.
At the time, she was staying in a hotel with her children and husband. According to the memo, they decided to intervene after receiving emails from two women at the bar claiming that Hegseth was “becoming forceful in trying to get women to go upstairs to his room.”
According to the memo, the accuser “had a momentary vague memory of being raped the night before and had a panic attack.”
A friend of the accuser said he had seen her at events over the past 15 years but “didn't know she was irresponsible, drunk or had any personality issues.”
Parlatore claimed her accuser was simply trying to save her husband's face.
“She woke up to a bunch of emails from her husband saying, 'Why didn't you come back to our room?'” Then she had to come back and lie. It added, citing a public police report.
A few days after the encounter, the accuser filed a complaint with police, who investigated the situation, but ultimately the local district attorney declined to press charges.
Two years later, in 2020, the accuser threatened to pursue Mr. Hegseth in court, resulting in Mr. Hegseth paying a settlement fee in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
“If she comes forward and starts repeating these false claims, or if this derails the confirmation in any way, then certainly we would probably file a fairly large lawsuit against her for defamation, civil, and extortion.” It's going to happen,” Parlatore said.
Hegseth, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, is widely seen as an unconventional choice to lead the Pentagon because he had no experience managing large organizations.
President Trump, 78, selected Mr. Hegseth, who holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard, with the intention of dramatically shaking up the Pentagon and eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion practices from the U.S. military.
So far, the president-elect has stuck by his Pentagon nominee amid the criticism. His transition team was caught off guard..
“President Trump is nominating an excellent and highly qualified candidate to serve in his administration,” Trump campaign communications director Stephen Chan said in a statement.
“Mr. You can start from day one to be great.”
The Post was unable to identify the accuser to contact about her version of events.
