Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon left the spectacle of televised wrestling more than a decade ago, but her new appointment to Donald Trump‘s administration has brought fresh scrutiny to her time presiding over the testosterone-charged industry.
McMahon on Tuesday was tapped to lead the Department of Education as she and her husband, the embattled Vince McMahon, are embroiled in a sex scandal, something of a developing trend in the second Trump administration.
Last month, a group of five former “ring boys” named the McMahons in a sex abuse lawsuit along with World Wrestling Entertainment and its parent company, TKO Group. The John Does alleged that from the 1970s to the 1990s, former WWE announcer Melvin Phillips Jr. groomed and sexually assaulted them and other minors, without any consequences from his employer.
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What’s more, they claimed the McMahons—in their capacity as chief WWE executives—specifically knew about and ignored Philips’s predation. His “peculiar and unnatural interest” in young boys prompted the couple to fire Phillips in 1988, the lawsuit says; they quickly reinstated him on the condition he “steer clear from kids,” which he didn’t.
Linda’s lawyer, Laura Brevetti, called the lawsuit’s complaints “baseless” and said the McMahons were separated.
“This civil lawsuit based upon thirty-plus year-old allegations is filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations, and misrepresentations regarding Linda McMahon,” Brevetti said in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“The matter at the time was investigated by company attorneys and the FBI, which found no grounds to continue the investigation. Ms. McMahon will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit and without doubt ultimately succeed.”
In addition to the ring boys‘ lawsuit, Vince is the subject of a federal investigation probing undisclosed multi-million-dollar payments he made to settle sexual misconduct and even rape complaints during his tenure at WWE. A former WWE employee has also accused McMahon of sexual coercion and assault, and of trafficking her to other men.
In a statement, McMahon’s lawyer told the Beast the sex-trafficking suit was “replete with lies” and represented a “vindictive distortion of the truth.” His attorney also denied the ring boys' claims, calling them “absurd, defamatory, and utterly meritless.”
Even without considering the couple’s legal woes, Linda is still a bizarre pick to run the Education Department, even if Trump truly intends to disembowel the agency.
She does not appear to have much in the way of professional experience for her new gig, save for a one-year stint on the Connecticut Board of Education in 2009, The New York Times reported
Per the Associated Press, when she assumed the Connecticut position, she evinced a “lifelong interest in education” and pre-marital aspirations of becoming a teacher. She was formerly a trustee at Sacred Heart University, but beyond that, she lacks relevant work experience.
Then again, that’s not necessarily unexpected in the context of a Trump presidency, nor is his overlooking a sexual abuse complaint.
He’s done the same for several other nominees: Recently resigned Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick for attorney general, has been accused of having sex with minors among many other transgressions. Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing, and Trump says he has no plans to reconsider the congressman’s nomination.
His would-be defense secretary, Peter Hegseth, has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman (which he denies) and then paying her to keep it quiet (which he doesn’t).
His pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr., has been accused by a former babysitter he hired of sexual harassment and unwanted groping, which he declined to comment about other than to say that he’s “not a church boy” and the report was “garbage.”
Seen from that perspective, a McMahon appointment is par for the course.
