Donald Trump's nominee for US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, paid a woman to keep quiet about a case in which she accused him of sexual assault, his lawyers told the Washington Post.
However, the lawyers maintain in a statement to the newspaper that there was no sexual assault and that the relationship was consensual, and explain the payment because if the woman had continued to make the accusation, it would have cost Hegseth, then a well-known commentator on Fox News, his job. The incident reportedly occurred in 2017 during a conservative convention.
Last Friday, the Monterrey police department confirmed that Hegseth was investigated in 2017 for a possible sexual assault case at a hotel in the Californian city where a Republican women's rally was taking place, but that information was closed without knowing the reasons.
When the woman threatened to report the case again three years later, Hegseth reached a confidentiality agreement to have the complaint dropped in exchange for money, the legal team told the Washington Post, which did not reveal the woman's name or the amount paid.
But another source supports the sexual assault version: a woman who said she was a friend of the victim sent a letter this week to the transition team of the United States president-elect, Donald Trump, and the newspaper had access to the text, with abundant details about what allegedly happened.
Her friend was then 30 years old, belonged to a group of conservative activists and was raped by Hegseth in his bedroom, according to the account of the woman who said she accompanied her to the convention and had known her for 15 years.
So far, Trump has maintained his support for Hegseth and maintains his innocence, a spokesman for the transition team, Steven Cheung, said this week.
"President Trump is nominating highly qualified and highly competent candidates. Hegseth has denied all allegations and no charges have been filed," he said.
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