{"id":28607,"date":"2024-12-17T19:17:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T19:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/17\/pete-hegseth-may-release-sexual-assault-accuser-from-confidentiality-agreement-setting-up-public-showdown\/"},"modified":"2024-12-17T19:17:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T19:17:50","slug":"pete-hegseth-may-release-sexual-assault-accuser-from-confidentiality-agreement-setting-up-public-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/17\/pete-hegseth-may-release-sexual-assault-accuser-from-confidentiality-agreement-setting-up-public-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth may release sexual assault accuser from confidentiality agreement, setting up public showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s Defense secretary nominee ensnared in sexual assault allegations, plans to release his accuser from the confidentiality agreement he had her sign, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham.<\/a><\/p>\n

Graham, R-S.C., told NBC\u2019s “Meet the Press” that Hegseth\u00a0“told me he would release her from that agreement,” adding, “I\u2019d want to know if anybody nominated for a high-level job in Washington legitimately assaulted somebody.”<\/p>\n

Graham has said he will not take allegations from an anonymous source into consideration for Hegseth\u2019s confirmation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Allowing Hegseth\u2019s accuser to come forward publicly might lead to a spectacle similar to the confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh,<\/a> during which his accuser, Christine Ford, was called to testify in the Senate about her accusations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

TRUMP’S DEFENSE PICK GOES ON OFFENSE AS SUPPORT GROWS FOR HEGSETH CONFIRMATION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“The\u00a0Pete Hegseth\u00a0<\/u><\/a>I know, this is not a problem I\u2019ve been aware of,” Graham said.<\/p>\n

“However, if people have an allegation to make, come forward and make it like they did in Kavanaugh,” he added, referring to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “We\u2019ll decide whether or not it\u2019s credible.”<\/p>\n

A woman alleges that in 2017, she was sexually assaulted by Hegseth in a hotel room in Monterey, California.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hegseth was not charged in the incident and insists the interaction was consensual, and the charge stemmed from a woman who regretted cheating on her husband.<\/p>\n

Police recommended the case report be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney\u2019s Office for review, but no charges were filed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time of the alleged assault, Hegseth, 44, was going through a divorce from his second wife, with whom he shares three children. She filed for divorce after he had a child with another woman, according to court records and social media posts.<\/p>\n

A payment was made to the woman, according to Hegseth\u2019s attorney, as part of a confidentiality agreement because Hegseth feared the woman was preparing to file a lawsuit that could have cost him his job as a co-host on “Fox & Friends.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Hegseth\u2019s attorney, Tim Parlatore, told CNN they had considered suing the woman for civil extortion before settling with a confidentiality agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WHAT PETE HEGSETH TOLD FOX NEWS’ SEAN HANNITY<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

It is not yet clear whether the allegations may stand in the way of Hegseth\u2019s confirmation.\u00a0Republicans will have a 53-47 majority in the next Senate, and there is only room for Trump nominees to lose a few GOP votes, assuming no Democrats choose to back them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hegseth does not appear to have lost any Republicans<\/a> in the upper chamber at this point, including more moderate lawmakers such as Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hegseth met with both of them last week on Capitol Hill. According to Collins, “I had a good, substantive discussion that lasted more than an hour.”<\/p>\n

“We covered a wide range of topics ranging from defense procurement reforms to the role of women in the military, sexual assault in the military. Ukraine, NATO, a wide range of issues. I obviously always wait until we have an FBI background check and one is underway in the case of Mr. Hegseth, and I wait to see the committee hearing before reaching a final decision.”<\/p>\n

Trump’s Defense secretary choice has also met twice with\u00a0Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa<\/u><\/a>. After their first meeting earlier this month, Ernst admitted on Fox News that she was not sold on Hegseth yet. However, after their second meeting this week, she released a statement, saying, “As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.”<\/p>\n

Fox News’ Julia Johnson and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s Defense secretary nominee ensnared in sexual assault allegations, plans to release his accuser from the confidentiality agreement he had her sign, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham. Graham, R-S.C., told NBC\u2019s “Meet the Press” that Hegseth\u00a0“told me he would release her from that agreement,” adding, “I\u2019d want to know if anybody … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}