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WASHINGTON — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s decide for protection secretary, paid a lady who accused him of sexual assault to go off the specter of a baseless lawsuit, in response to Hegseth’s lawyer.
Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a talking look at a Republican girls’s occasion in Monterey, in response to a statement released by the city. No costs had been filed.
His lawyer, Tim Parlatore, advised the Related Press on Sunday that the sexual encounter was consensual and that the girl who made the accusation days later was the “aggressor.” That assertion has not been confirmed within the assertion launched by town.
Parlatore stated a cost was made to the girl as a part of a confidential settlement a couple of years after the police investigation as a result of Hegseth believed the submitting of a threatened lawsuit might have gotten him fired from Fox Information, the place he was then a preferred host. Parlatore wouldn’t reveal the quantity of the cost.
“He was falsely accused and my place is that he was the sufferer of blackmail,” Parlatore stated, calling it a case of “profitable extortion.”
The Washington Publish earlier reported particulars of the cost. The newspaper additionally reported it obtained a replica of a memo despatched to Trump’s transition staff this previous week by a lady who stated she is a buddy of the accuser that particulars the sexual assault allegations.
Trump’s transition staff had no instant remark Sunday on the memo.
The one who reported the assault — whose title, age and intercourse weren’t launched — had bruises on the suitable thigh, in response to town’s assertion. No weapons had been concerned within the encounter, the individual advised police.
The incident occurred someday between 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 7 and seven a.m. the next morning, in response to town’s assertion.
Hegseth was in Monterey on the time to deal with the California Federation of Republican Ladies throughout a banquet dinner held on the group’s biennial conference, in response to social media posts and promotional supplies from the time.
Monterey officers stated they had been withholding additional particulars included within the police report as a result of it included evaluation and conclusions by legislation enforcement officers which might be exempt from launch underneath state public data legislation.
On the time of the 2017 accusations, Hegseth, now 44, was going by means of a divorce along with his second spouse, with whom he has three youngsters. She filed for divorce after he had a baby with a Fox Information producer who’s now his spouse, in response to courtroom data and social media posts by Hegseth. His first marriage resulted in 2009, additionally after infidelity by Hegseth, in response to courtroom data.
After the accusations first surfaced final week, Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump transition, issued an announcement saying the president-elect is “nominating high-caliber and intensely certified candidates to serve in his Administration.”
“Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no costs had been filed. We sit up for his affirmation as United States Secretary of Protection so he can get began on Day One to Make America Secure and Nice Once more,” Cheung stated.
Tucker writes for the Related Press. Related Press author Will Weissert in Palm Seashore, Fla., contributed to this report.
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