Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017 as part of a settlement agreement, a lawyer for Hegseth said in a statement Saturday.

Tim Parlatore, the Fox News star’s attorney, said in the statement that Hegseth settled in December 2020 only because he feared his career would suffer if her allegations were made public. Parlatore said Hegseth was the victim of “blackmail” and “false claims of sexual assault” by an unidentified woman after a Republican women’s convention in California on October 7, 2017.

“Knowing that it was the height of the MeToo movement and that any public allegations would result in his immediate termination from Fox, Mr. Hegseth ultimately decided to settle for a significantly reduced amount,” according to the statement.

In Parlatore’s account, Hegseth met the woman at an after-party, where he became “visibly intoxicated.” The woman “led him by the arm to his hotel room” where the two engaged in a “consensual sexual encounter”.

“The plaintiff was the aggressor in initiating the sexual activity,” Parlatore wrote.

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As ABC News previously reported, the woman filed a police report days later, but no charges were filed. Two years later, according to Parlatore, the woman “started making noise about filing a lawsuit against Mr. Hegseth.” Her colleagues “warned us of the threat,” prompting Hegseth and his legal team to send her a cease and desist letter.

Parlatore did not disclose the amount of the settlement.

According to The Washington Post, Parlatore’s statement — which was first reported by the paper — came after a friend of the alleged victim sent a memo to Trump’s transition officials last week calling their attention to the incident.

The memo, which ABC News has not obtained or reviewed, reportedly said the woman — who was described by the Post as a conservative group staff member in her 30s — was responsible to make sure Hegseth returned to him. hotel room at the end of the night.

In a post on X (bound)Trump’s team said the president-elect supports Hegseth.

“Mr. Hegseth has vehemently denied all allegations and no charges have been filed,” said Stephen Cheung, Trump’s communications director. “We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense.”

Trump’s team did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment. The person who sent the memo to the transition team did not respond to requests for comment from The Post.

According to the memo, two other women called her over when Hegseth became “insistent about his interest in taking them upstairs to his room.”

After the other two women left, the woman “didn’t remember anything until she was in Hegseth’s hotel room and then tripped to find her hotel room.” The next day, she “had a moment of vague recollection of being raped the night before and had a panic attack,” the note said.

The woman then went to an emergency room, where an examination of the rape kit “was positive for semen,” the Post said in the memo.

Monterey city officials said in a statement that police were investigating a “sexual assault” that allegedly occurred in the early morning hours of Oct. 8, 2017, at a Hyatt Regency. The incident did not involve a weapon, but the victim reportedly suffered “contusions to his right thigh.”

Hegseth is not identified in the city’s statement as the alleged assailant. The victim’s name and age are listed as “confidential.”

A police report was filed a few days later on October 12. A Monterey Superior Court spokesman told ABC News on Thursday that there are no records in the docket with Hegseth’s name as a party.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.