More details are emerging about a 2017 sexual assault allegation made against Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s secretary of defense pick.
News of the allegation came to light Friday, when The Washington Post reported that members of Trump’s transition team had been made aware of the incident in a memo and were worried about its implications.
According to the Post, the alleged assault took place in a California hotel after a California Federation of Republican Women conference, and a complaint was made by the victim’s friend.
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On Saturday, the publication received a statement from Hegseth’s lawyer Timothy Parlatore, confirming that the former Fox News host had paid his accuser out of fear that he would lose his TV gig.
While the payment is not in dispute, Parlatore’s statements about the 2017 incident differ wildly from those provided by the friend who wrote the complaint.
According to the complaint shared with Trump’s team, the married victim, aka Jane Doe, was out of it and only recalled the rape in Hegseth’s hotel room the day after it happened.
She then went to the emergency room, where a rape kit tested “positive for semen.” No charges were filed against Hegseth after a police investigation.
However, Paralatore says his client was the one incapacitated and “visibly intoxicated” when he was taken back to his hotel room by Jane Doe, who then initiated a sexual encounter.
As for the rape kit, Hegseth’s lawyer says it “produced no evidence that the sexual contact was nonconsensual.”
Parlatore maintains that a nondisclosure agreement was drawn up and signed more than two years after the ordeal, and a cease and desist was later sent after the woman threatened to sue.
Trump’s transition team received the memo earlier this week from a woman who said she was a friend of the accuser, but the campaign has continued to back Hegseth.
Earlier this week, spokesman Steven Cheung said, “President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration. 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.”
