President-elect Donald Trumpwho has been repeatedly and infamously accused of sexual assault and misconduct, now fills his cabinet with several men who have allegedly committed the same type of violence.

At least four of the nominees announced by Trump for his administration have been accused of sexual misconduct, ranging from sexual harassment to assault and rape. Trump himself was accused by two dozen women of sexual assault and rape, and just last year, a federal jury convicted E. Jean Carroll of sexually abusing him in the 1990s.

His rampant misogyny and contempt for the humanity of women has been a signature of his political career. The whole country heard him advocate sexual assault on the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape that aired before the 2016 election. Even his attempts to reassure female voters about much of his anti-women rhetoric is laughably sexist. Five days before the 2024 election, he pledged to “protect the women of our country … whether women like it or not.” His unabashed sexism worked as a dog whistle for many of his most ardent supporters, including several of those arrested for storming the Capitol on January 6, which HuffPost finder had a history of violence against women.

“When we elect a president, we expect that president to provide safety for women,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (DN.M.), vice chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, told HuffPost. “When he names men who have been accused of sexual violence against women … he is betraying the women who voted for him and he is betraying all women in America.”

Trump shocked even the republicans when he chose the former Rep. Matt Gaetz for the attorney general. Gaetz has been at the center of two investigations launched by the Justice Department and House lawmakers into allegations of sex trafficking, sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. DOJ escaped their investigation last year without charges.

The public got a glimpse of the House Ethics Committee’s findings Monday when a lawyer representing two women who testified before the committee said Gaetz paid the women for sex in 2017. One of the women testified that she saw Gaetz having sex with an underage girl at a party, which took place the same year Gaetz was sworn into Congress.

Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. A spokesman for Trump’s transition team denied the lawyer’s allegations on Monday, describing the allegations as “baseless.”

Trump also said he plans to nominate veteran Fox News TV anchor Pete Hegseth to be the next defense secretary. Hegseth was investigated for sexual assault for a 2017 incident in Monterey, California, in which he allegedly raped a woman working the California Federation of Republican Women conference. He later paid the woman to keep quiet as part of a 2020 non-disclosure agreement.

Hegseth claims the encounter was consensual. Hegseth is also known for his efforts to pardon convicted war criminals, his removal from the 2021 inauguration of President Joe Biden because of him. supposed white nationalist tattooand to publicly advocate against women serving in combat roles.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for HHS secretary, was accused sexually assaulted his family’s nanny in the late 1990s, when Kennedy was married with five children. Era reported Earlier this year, Kennedy texted the woman an apology and said he had no recollection of the incident. When asked about the allegation later, Kennedy said: “I’m not a church boy… I have so many skeletons in my closet.”

Billionaire Elon Musk, tapped by Trump to lead a new federal spending-cutting initiative called the “Department for Government Efficiency,” has been accused of exposing his genitalia to a flight attendant in 2016 and trying to bribe her with gifts to perform sexual acts, according to a Business Insider report. Musk’s company, SpaceX, paid him $250,000 in 2018.

“If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, it’s unlikely that this would be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it would come to light,” Musk told Business Insider, adding that the report was a “piece of of politically motivated success”. and there is “so much more to this story.” The Wall Street Journal published a report earlier this year about the “boundary-blurring relationships” Musk had with several female SpaceX employees.

both Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the other billionaire Trump chose to lead DOGE, reportedly fired employees who raised concerns about sexual harassment and gender discrimination at their respective companies.

This trend of getting men accused of violence or misconduct against women began this year even before he won the White House. Trump’s first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was charged with misdemeanor battery over a 2021 incident in which he allegedly stalked and touched a woman at a charity event. Despite being released from the first campaign over the incident, Lewandowski was back with Trump in August of this year as a senior adviser on his presidential campaign. The 2021 case was later dismissed in exchange for Lewandowski doing community service and paying a $1,000 fine.

When people accused of violence are put in power, they use that power to bury their alleged crimes and avoid accountability. Trump’s presidential victory means probably he will avoid any liability because he was convicted of 34 felony charges earlier this year. Gaetz hasn’t even been formally nominated for attorney general, and the Republican powers that be are trying to bury the House ethics investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct.

Some of these nominations, like Gaetzmay have difficulty obtaining Senate confirmation. Jennifer Simmons Kaleba, vice president of communications at RAINN, urged members of the Senate Judiciary Committee not to vote for Gaetz until they review the House Ethics Committee’s report, urging the Judiciary Committee to gather all the facts and allow accusers to testify in any case. confirmation hearings.

“In these nominations, we see what survivors already know — when high-profile, high-powered individuals accused of sexual assault are promoted without fully considering the allegations, everyone suffers,” Simmons Kaleba told HuffPost.

Regardless of the outcome, Trump’s decision to appoint men like Gaetz and Hegseth to some of the most powerful positions in his administration sends a clear message to survivors of sexual violence.

Trashelle Odom, the woman who accused Lewandowski of unwanted touching, summed up the sentiment in an Oct. interview with CBS News. “I just broke down. I was very, very upset,” she said of Lewandowski’s return to Trump’s orbit. “He’s got his power back.”