President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, paid a woman who had accused him of sexual assault as part of a settlement agreement with a confidentiality clause, but Hegseth insists it was a consensual encounter, his lawyer said on Saturday.
The Trump transition team was only recently alerted to the payment by Hegseth, a Fox News commentator and a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The payment was reported earlier by The Washington Post.
Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, said that his client had done nothing wrong.
“Mr. Hegseth is completely innocent,” he said. “Not only did she take advantage of him, but we believe she then extorted him knowing that at the height of the #MeToo movement the mere public allegation would likely result in his immediate termination from Fox News.”
Parlatore said the woman began making statements about Hegseth that he said were false about two years after the alleged incident and that she had suggested to people that she might file a lawsuit against Hegseth. He sent the woman a cease-and-desist letter in early 2020. The settlement came months after that letter, although the amount was unclear.
In addition to the alleged sexual assault in 2017, the nomination of the National Guard vet has sparked controversy because he was reported as a possible “Insider Threat” due to a tattoo; because of his lack of experience leading large organizations; as well as critical statements he has made about military leadership, women serving in combat units and the Muslim faith.
Fox News host Pete Hegseth's tattoos decoded after Donald Trump picked him as new Secretary of Defense https://t.co/0V1pvIBA3f pic.twitter.com/I7jdekRfzk
— Mail+ (@DailyMailUK) November 13, 2024
Trump shocked much of Washington with the pick of Hegseth earlier this week. The president-elect had leaned toward the selection a few days before it was announced, according to multiple people briefed on the matter.
The Trump team was rocked earlier this week when a woman sent a memo to the transition claiming her friend had been sexually assaulted by Hegseth.
Late on Thursday the Monterey Police Department in California said it had investigated an allegation of sexual assault involving Hegseth in 2017 at the address of the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa. No charges were filed.
Hegseth was a speaker at a conference of the California Federation of Republican Women at the Monterey hotel in early October 2017 when the encounter that led to the investigation occurred. The woman had been with the Republican women’s group.
According to the police statement, the complaint was filed four days after the encounter, and the complainant had bruises to her thigh. The police report itself was not released.
Trump has not moved off supporting Hegseth, despite claims that his team was reassessing the pick, according to several people close to the incoming president. Hegseth has been a favorite of Trump going back to his first term, when the president wanted to name him as secretary for Veteran Affairs.
But when he received pushback, Trump looked elsewhere.
Reported as possible ‘Insider Threat’
News of the settlement-agreement payment came as new details arose of Hegseth being flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member due to a tattoo on his bicep that’s associated with white supremacist groups.
Hegseth — who has downplayed the role of military members and veterans in the Jan. 6, 2021, siege at the Capitol and railed against the Pentagon’s subsequent efforts to address extremism in the ranks — has said he was pulled by his District of Columbia National Guard unit from guarding Joe Biden’s January 2021 inauguration. He's said he was unfairly identified as an extremist due to a cross tattoo on his chest.
This week, however, a fellow Guard member who was the unit’s security manager and on an anti-terrorism team at the time, shared with The Associated Press an email he sent to the unit’s leadership flagging a different tattoo reading “Deus Vult” that’s been used by white supremacists, concerned it was an indication of an “Insider Threat.”
Retired Master Sgt. DeRicko Gaither, who was serving as the D.C. Army National Guard’s physical security manager and on its anti-terrorism force protection team in January 2021, told the AP that he received an email from a former D.C. Guard member that included a screenshot of a social media post that included two photos showing several of Hegseth’s tattoos.
Gaither told AP he researched the tattoos — including one of a Jerusalem Cross and the context of the words “Deus Vult,” Latin for “God wills it,” on his bicep — and determined they had sufficient connection to extremist groups to elevate the email to his commanding officers.
Former Navy intelligence officer Travis Akers was the person who initially saw the photos on a group chat, then researched them and decided to post the photos to social media. Those images were then seen by the former member of the D.C. National Guard, who sent them in an anonymous email to Gaither.
“It was just quite concerning to see that on a service member’s body, but even more concerning now that a person who chose to bear those symbols is being nominated to lead the most powerful, nuclear military in the world," Akers told the AP in a phone interview Friday.
Hegseth did not respond to requests for comment.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, said Hegseth has “the necessary experience and impressive qualifications” to implement Trump’s policies. “We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense,” Cheung wrote in an email.
The Associated Press and The Washington Post contributed.
First Published: November 17, 2024, 3:53 p.m.
Updated: November 18, 2024, 4:38 p.m.
