WASHINGTON – While Matt Gaetzwithdrew from the nomination process for Attorney General, President-Elect Donald Trump he has picked several other people for his cabinet and key staff positions who have been accused of some form of sexual misconduct.

Trump himself did it long accused of abuse or mistreatment of women and once it was caught bragging about grabbing women of the genitals. He was found guilty by a New York jury of sexual abuse and defamation and finally ordered to pay the woman, E. Jean Carroll83 million dollars in damages.

Taken together, there are a staggering number of incidents in which potential high-ranking government officials in Trump’s second administration face allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump and all of his gubernatorial picks have denied the allegations against them, with some of the accused arguing that the cases are politically driven.

Here is what is known about the cases:

President-elect Donald Trump

Jurors in New York last year found Trump guilty of sexually abusing Carroll, an advice columnist, in 1996.

The verdict was split: Jurors rejected Carroll’s claim that she was raped, finding Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse. Jurors also found him guilty of defaming Carroll over her allegations. Trump did not attend the civil trial and was absent when the verdict was read.

Carroll she was one of more than a dozen women who accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. She went public in a 2019 memoir about her allegation that the Republican raped her in the dressing room of an upscale department store in Manhattan.

trump card he denied itsaying he never met Carroll at the store and didn’t know her. He called her a “crazy job” who made up a “fraudulent and false story” to sell a memoir. He similarly denied other women’s claims.

Pete Hegseth, nominee for Secretary of Defense

A woman told police she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report made public this week.

Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter was consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said.

News about the allegations emerged last week when local officials released a brief statement confirming that a woman accused Hegseth of sexual assault in October 2017 after he spoke at an event for Republican Women in Monterey.

Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said in a statement that the police report confirms “what we have said all along that the incident was fully investigated and the police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges were filed.”

Parlatore said a payment it was made to the woman as part of a confidentiality agreement several years after the police investigation because Hegseth she was worried she was set to file a lawsuit she feared could have led to his firing from Fox News, where he was a popular host. Parlatore did not disclose the amount of the payment.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services

A woman who babysat Kennedy and his second wife told Vanity Fair magazine that he groped her in the late 1990s, when she was 23. Kennedy did not deny the allegation, telling a podcast: “I had a very, very turbulent youth.” He texted the woman apologizing after the story was published.

According to an interview the woman told USA Today this weekshe said she was babysitting the children at Kennedy’s home in Mount Kisco, New York. She said the attack happened shortly after she started working there. During a dinner date with Kennedy and another person, she said she felt him rub her leg under the table.

She said this to the paper another timeKennedy, then 46, asked her to rub lotion on him when he was shirtless and she obliged because she wanted to get away with it. And he grabbed her in a kitchen pantry and groped her, blocking her exit. He stayed on the job for a few months before leaving.

Linda McMahon, nominee for Secretary of Education

A lawsuit filed last month alleges that McMahon knowingly allowed the sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment employee dating back to the 1980s. She denies the allegations.

The lawsuit was filed in October in Maryland, where a the recent change in the law eliminated the state’s statute of limitations on child sexual abuse claims, opening the door for victims to sue regardless of their age or how long it’s been.

The complaint alleges that Melvin Phillips, who died in 2012, would target youths from disadvantaged backgrounds and hire them as “ring boys” to help prepare for wrestling matches. Phillips then allegedly assaulted them in his locker room, in hotels and even in the fighters’ locker room, according to the complaint, which was filed on behalf of five men.

The abuse detailed in the lawsuit occurred over several years during Phillips’ long tenure with the organization, which spanned from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Because of his death, Phillips is not among the named defendants.

Instead, the complaint targets WWE founders Linda McMahon and her husband Vince, who built the organization into the powerhouse it is today. The couple was aware of Phillips’ inappropriate behavior but did nothing to stop it, according to the complaint.

“This civil lawsuit based on allegations that are over thirty years old is filled with lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations about Linda McMahon,” Laura Brevetti, Linda McMahon’s attorney, said in a statement. “At the time, the matter was investigated by the company’s attorneys and the FBI, who found no reason to continue the investigation. Ms. McMahon will vigorously defend herself against this baseless lawsuit and will undoubtedly be successful in the end.”

Brevetti confirmed that Linda and Vince McMahon are separated.

Elon Musk, Trump’s pick to lead the new Department for Government Efficiency

adze and SpaceXCEO Elon Musk was accused of sexual misconduct by a SpaceX-contracted flight attendant who worked on his private jet in 2016. He has denied the allegation.

A 2022 report by Business Insider said SpaceX paid the woman $250,000 in compensation in 2018 in exchange for her agreeing not to file a lawsuit over her claim.

The Business Insider report was based on one account by the flight attendant’s friend, who said the flight attendant told him about the incident shortly after it happened. The report also said the flight attendant had to sign a non-disclosure agreement barring her from discussing the payment or anything else about Musk and SpaceX.

SpaceX did not respond to emails seeking comment on Friday.

Musk responded to the allegations on Twitter, which he was in the process of buying at the time they emerged.

“And for the record, those wild allegations are completely untrue,” he wrote in response to a user who tweeted in support of him.

He replied to another: “In my 30-year career, including all of it Me too era, there’s nothing to report, but as soon as I say I’m going to restore free speech on Twitter and vote Republican, all of a sudden it pops up…”

Matt Gaetz, who withdrew as Trump’s pick for attorney general

The former Florida congressman was embroiled in a sex-trafficking investigation by the Justice Department he had been appointed to lead. He was also under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations, including sexual misconduct, until he resigned from Congress this week. He then withdrew his name for consideration.

Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and said last year that the Justice Department’s investigation into sex-trafficking allegations involving underage girls ended without federal charges against him.

Federal investigators are looking into a trip Gaetz took to the Bahamas with a group of women and a doctor who donated to his campaign and whether the women were paid or received gifts to have sex with the men, according to people familiar with the matter. with the matter. is not allowed to discuss the investigation publicly.

Two women, House investigators said Gaetz paid them for sex, and one of the women testified she saw him having sex with a 17-year-old, according to a lawyer for the women.

The committee began its review of Gaetz in April 2021, delayed its work in response to a Justice Department request, and resumed work shortly after Gaetz announced that the Justice Department had concluded a trafficking investigation sexual.

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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.