Trump picks Pete Hegseth for protection secretary
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated FOX Information host and Military veteran Pete Hegseth to function his protection secretary. Hegseth is a co-host on FOX Information’ “Fox & Mates Weekend” present and is a former Military veteran. Hegseth and President-elect Trump reportedly grew to become pleasant after Trump appeared on the present a number of occasions.
A lawyer for Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s decide for protection secretary, confirmed {that a} girl who accused him of sexual assault was paid as a part of a confidential settlement.
Hegseth’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, advised The Related Press that the settlement was made to cease her from submitting a baseless lawsuit.
Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a talking look at a Republican ladies’s occasion in Monterey, California, in response to a press release launched by the town.
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The one who reported the assault had bruises on the proper thigh, in response to the town’s assertion. No costs had been filed.
Hegseth’s lawyer stated the sexual encounter was consensual.
Pete Hegseth, host of Fox & Mates, on the Nationwide Council of Younger Israel Gala in New York Metropolis. (Picture by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Photographs/LightRocket by way of Getty Photographs)
A fee was made to the lady as a part of a confidential settlement a number of years after the police investigation as a result of Hegseth believed the submitting of a threatened lawsuit may have gotten him fired from Fox Information, the place he was then a preferred host, his lawyer maintains.
Parlatore wouldn’t reveal the quantity of the fee.
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“He was falsely accused and my place is that he was the sufferer of blackmail,” Parlatore stated, calling it a case of “profitable extortion.”
Hegseth was in Monterey on the time to deal with the California Federation of Republican Girls. On the time of the 2017 accusations, Hegseth, now 44, was going by means of a divorce together with his second spouse, with whom he has three youngsters.
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She filed for divorce after he had a baby with a Fox Information producer who’s now his spouse, in response to court docket information and social media posts by Hegseth. His first marriage resulted in 2009, additionally after infidelity by Hegseth, in response to court docket information.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump transition, issued a press release saying the president-elect is “nominating high-caliber and intensely certified candidates to serve in his Administration.”
“Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no costs had been filed. We look ahead to his affirmation as United States Secretary of Protection so he can get began on Day One to Make America Secure and Nice Once more,” Cheung stated.
