Trump’s incoming Defense Secretary paid a price for a woman’s silence after alleged sexual assault

US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, paid a woman in exchange for her silence in the case in which she accused him of sexual assault in 2017. during a conservative conferenceAccording to what his team of lawyers confessed to the newspaper ‘The Washington Post’. However, lawyers said in a statement to the newspaper that no sexual harassment had occurred and that their relationship was consensual, and they explain the payment because if she had continued to complain, Hegseth, who was a well-known commentator for the Fox TV network at the time, would have lost his job.

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Last Friday, the Monterey Police Department confirmed that Hegseth was indeed investigated for a possible sexual assault at a hotel in the California city in 2017. over there A meeting of republican women was heldBut that information was closed without knowing the reason.

When the woman threatened to report the affair to Hegseth again three years later He then entered into a confidentiality agreement to withdraw the complaint in exchange for money.According to what the team of lawyers told ‘Post’, they have neither disclosed the name of the woman nor the amount paid.

Another source supports the sexual assault version: A woman who claims to be a friend of the victim sent a letter this week — to which the Post had access — to Trump’s transition team in which She details how her friend, who was 30 at the time and from a group of conservative activists, was raped by Hegseth.

In the latter’s room. That friend was with him on that stage and he had known him for 15 years.

maintains its support

So far, Trump maintains his support for Hegseth and maintains his innocenceAs Steven Cheung, one of the transition team’s spokesmen, said this week: “President Trump is appointing high-level and extremely capable candidates. Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied each allegation, and he Haven’t come to complain.”

Hegseth is the second presidential candidate to face sexual allegations. Controversial Attorney General candidate Matt Gaetz was accused of sex trafficking of a minor

And it was investigated by the House Ethics Committee, as well as drug use.