A lawyer for Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, confirmed to NPR that Hegseth paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault to prevent her from filing a lawsuit that would could affect the career. .

Hegseth, 44, denied the woman’s allegations. The incident took place in 2017.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said in a statement that Hegseth had reached a settlement with her accuser, including paying her an undisclosed amount of money in exchange for her signing a confidentiality agreement. That arrangement was meant to prevent her from filing a lawsuit and protect Hegseth’s position at Fox News, Itemt reported.

Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told NPR Monday that the information attributed to him was accurate, which first reported news of the settlement. right Post article, a friend of the woman shared information about the incident in a memo sent to Trump’s transition team last week. NPR has not independently confirmed the contents of the memo.

No charges have been filed, the Trump team says

“President Trump is nominating high-caliber and highly qualified candidates to serve in his administration,” Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to NPR.

Hegseth’s appointment will go forward, Cheung said.

“Mr Hegseth has strongly denied any allegation and no charges have been laid,” he said. “We look forward to his confirmation as Secretary of Defense of the United States so he can begin from day one to make America safe and great again.”

Trump himself was convicted of falsifying business records related to them quiet money paymentsfor adult film star Stormy Daniels, a case he claims is politically motivated.

Why is Hegseth accused?

In 2017, Hegseth was named in an investigation by the Monterey Police Department into a reported sexual assault at a golf resort in California. Conformable a statement from city officials, Hegseth admits to having sex with the woman but insists it was consensual.

The incident occurred in the early hours of October 8 at 1 Old Golf Course Road, which is the address of the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa. Police say the woman reported an injury to her right thigh. Their press release does not reveal the name or age of the alleged victim; however, she was 30 at the time and was working for the California Federation of Republican Women, assisting with logistics while Hegseth spoke at their conference.

She was staying at the hotel with her husband.

Hegseth’s relationship status at the time was complicated: In 2017, his second wife filed for divorce “around the same time” he and his current wife had a child, according to The Washington Examiner.

In his statement to PostParlatore says Hegseth had been drinking at the hotel bar and was intoxicated when he went with the woman to his hotel room. According to the Post, the note from the woman’s friend said the woman took Hegseth into the room after being told he was bothering other women. A few days later, she contacted the police to report a sexual assault.

After the woman hired a lawyer a few years later to consider a lawsuit, both sides reached a settlement. Parlatore noted in his statement to the Post that the MeToo movement was gaining momentum at the time and said CBS News that Hegseth would have faced “an immediate firestorm” if he had been publicly accused of sexual assault, a quote Parlatore confirmed to NPR.

The Monterey incident came about a year after Fox News settled with the ex The fox and friends co-host Gretchen Carlson for $20 million over her sexual harassment allegations against former network chairman Roger Ailes. Between early 2017 and 2020, the network experienced several high-profile departures related to misconduct, including hosts. Bill O’Reilly and Eric Bollingcorrespondent in Washington James Rosen and the news anchor Ed Henry.

Hegseth is known for his TV work and loyalty to Trump

When Hegseth was nominated last week, the selection apparently surprised several Republican lawmakers; as NPR reported, his name was not on the known short list of potential nominees. But Trump’s pattern of placing loyalists and Fox News personalities continued in prominent positions.

Trump’s selection has put Hegseth, who lives in Tennessee with his wife and seven children, under close scrutiny.

Prominent Democrats and military experts have raised questions ranging from the meaning of his tattoos and political ethos whether Hegseth is qualified to oversee the nation’s largest employer. The Department of Defense has “more than 2.1 million military service members and more than 770,000 civilian employees,” according to a fiscal report 2020.

Hegseth is a Minnesota native who served as an officer in the Army National Guard, leaving the service as a major in 2021 after deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to his official biography. He earned a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University in 2013.

Those questioning Hegseth’s qualifications include Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., the ranking member of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee.

“I have great respect for anyone who has served our nation in the U.S. Armed Forces. However, not everyone who has worn the uniform is qualified to lead the Department of Defense,” McCollum. said in a statementadding that she is concerned that Hegseth “is ill-prepared to serve as Secretary of Defense.”

The military has its own sexual assault problems

If confirmed, Hegseth would lead a US military that has tried to reduce alarming rates of sexual assault from military academies TO deployments abroad.

In a notable change, the Department of Defense implemented a change earlier this year that grants independent military attorneys the authority to handle cases of sexual assault,

removing these matters from the chains of command of either the accused or the victim.

This change in the military justice system was supported by current Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

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