His potential future boss Donald Trump denied that anything happened but still wrote checks to a former porn star who said they had a sexual encounter.

And now Pete Hegsethwho is President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, insists that if there was a sexual encounter, it was consensual — but he still paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault.

The payment was part of a confidentiality agreement, according to s Saturday statement from Hegseth and other documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Trump of course he was convicted of 34 crimes in an election interference and hush money trial that included testimony that he secretly — and illegally — paid Stormy Daniels in 2016 to keep their alleged voter affair going.

According to the Washington Post:

Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said (in a statement) that Hegseth was “visibly intoxicated” at the time of the incident and claimed that police who were contacted days after the encounter by the woman concluded that “the complainant was the aggressor. in the meeting.” Police have not confirmed this claim.

Hegseth agreed to pay the woman an undisclosed amount because he feared disclosure of the matter “would result in his immediate termination from Fox,” where he works as a host, the statement said.

A memo detailing the incident was sent to Trump’s transition team this week by a woman who said she was friends with the accuser. The Post obtained a copy of the notice, which alleges Hegseth raped the woman – then a 30-year-old staff member at a conservative group – in his room after drinking at a hotel bar.

The station reported that he was unable to speak with the accuser.

The accuser, whose identity has not been released, filed a complaint with police alleging she was sexually assaulted days after the Oct. 7, 2017, encounter in Monterey, California, but the local district attorney did not press charges, though police confirmed that they investigated the incident.

When he threatened litigation in 2020, Hegseth made the payment and signed the confidentiality agreement, his attorney said.

After drinking in the bar, the woman said she didn’t remember anything until she got to Hegseth’s room, then stumbled to find her own room. The next day, she has a vague memory of being raped, she was examined at a hospital, where a rape kit tested positive for sperm.

Meanwhile, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick for attorney general, was investigated for allegedly having sex with an underage woman, which ended without charges.

The woman who was at the center of a years-long Justice Department investigation into allegations of sex trafficking testified before the House Ethics Committee that Gaetz had sex with her when she was 17, sources familiar with the investigation said. ABC News.

Trump insists he is not withdrawing Gaetz’s name, despite warnings from lawmakers in both parties that Gaetz faces an uphill battle to secure the 51 votes needed for Senate confirmation.