The one appointed by the American president-elect, Donald Trumpto occupy the Defense portfolio in his cabinet, Pete Hegsethhas returned to the spotlight due to the leak of a police report containing new details about the case for which he was under investigation for sexual assault. The document, 22 pages long and provided by the Monterey, California, city attorney’s office, says the woman told officers that Hegseth blocked her from leaving the hotel room where the incident allegedly took place. place, took his phone and sexually assaulted her even though she remembers telling him “no” several times during this meeting, according to CNN.
Monterey police confirmed mid-month that Hegseth was investigated in 2017 for a possible sexual assault that occurred at a hotel in the California city where a Republican women’s meeting was being held, but this investigation was closed without knowing it. the circumstances. When three years later the woman threatened to report the matter again, Hegseth entered into a confidentiality agreement allowing her to withdraw her complaint in exchange for a sum of money, as they admitted to the newspaper. Washington Post the team of lawyers, who did not reveal the woman’s name or the amount paid.
Another source supports the version of sexual assault: a woman who claims to be a friend of the victim sent a letter this week to which the man himself job had access to the Trump transition team in which she points out in great detail that her friend, who was then 30 and belonged to a group of conservative activists, she was raped by Hegseth in the latter’s room. The friend accompanied her on this forum and had known her for 15 years.
“The matter has been thoroughly investigated and I have been completely acquitted, I will leave it at that,” Trump’s choice to head the Pentagon said last Thursday. YT.So far, Trump has supported Hegseth, calling the allegations false. “Pete Hegseth is a highly respected veteran who will honorably serve our country when confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense, just as he did honorably on the battlefield in uniform,” he said in a press release.
He is not the only one
However, Hegseth, a man better known for his television career than his military career, has reason to see his future at stake. The new data against him arrived on the same day that the candidate previously appointed attorney general withdrew his candidacy, Matt Gaetzinvolved in a sex trafficking case involving at least one minor. Gaetz, who until last week was a member of Congress, was investigated by the Justice Department, although never charged, for allegedly having sex with teenagers , violated human trafficking laws, as well as for drug use.
At the same time, he faces a second investigation, open until last week, within the ethics committee of the House of Representatives. Those investigations were closed as soon as he resigned his seat last week, as soon as Trump appointed him, because the commission found itself without power over lawmakers.
The accusations of sex crimes do not stop at the two people chosen by Trump to occupy two key positions in his new administration. Remember that since 2016, more than 25 women have accused the next president of inappropriate behavior, including harassment, non-consensual touching and sexual assault. Last year, in fact, he was found guilty of sexual abuse against the columnist. E. Jean Carroll.
