Defense pick Peter Hegseth paid accuser to protect his career, his lawyer confirms

This story originally appeared on NPR. 

An attorney for Pete Hegseth, the longtime Fox News host and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, confirmed to NPR that Hegseth had paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault in order to prevent her from filing a lawsuit that could damage his career.

Hegseth, 44, left Fox News last week after his pending nomination was announced, the network said. Hegseth has denied the woman’s allegations. The incident took place in 2017.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, said in a statement that Hegseth had reached a settlement with his accuser, which included paying her an unknown amount of money in exchange for her signing a nondisclosure agreement. This arrangement was intended to stop her from filing a lawsuit and to protect Hegseth’s position at Fox News, the Post reported.

Parlatore told NPR on Monday that the information attributed to him by the Post was accurate. According to the Post article, a friend of the woman had shared information about the incident in a memo sent to the Trump transition team last week. NPR has not independently confirmed the contents of the memo.

No charges were filed, Trump team says

“President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration,” Trump Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement to NPR.

Hegseth’s nomination will go forward, Cheung said.

“Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed,” he said. “We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again.”

Trump has himself been convicted of falsifying business records connected to hush money payments, to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, a case he claims is politically motivated.

What is Hegseth accused of?

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

The incident occurred in the early hours of Oct. 8 at 1 Old Golf Course Road, which is the address of Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa. Police say the woman reported an injury to her right thigh. Their news release does not disclose the alleged victim’s name or age; however, she was 30 at the time and worked 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 a divorce “around the same time” he and his current wife had a baby, according to The Washington Examiner.

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

After the woman hired an attorney a couple of years later to consider a lawsuit, both parties reached an agreement. Parlatore noted in his statement to the Post that the MeToo movement was gaining momentum at the time, and he told CBS News that Hegseth would have faced “an immediate horror storm” had he been publicly accused of sexual assault, a quote that Parlatore confirmed to NPR.

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

Hegseth is known for his TV work, and loyalty to Trump

When Hegseth pending nomination emerged last week, the selection seemingly surprised several Republican lawmakers; as NPR reported, his name was not on the known shortlist of potential nominees. But it continued a pattern of Trump’s placing loyalists and Fox News personalities in prominent positions.

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

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

Hegseth is a Minnesota native who served as an officer in the Army National Guard, leaving 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 Subcommittee on Defense.

“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 statement, adding that she is concerned that Hegseth “is ill-prepared to serve as Secretary of Defense.”

Military has its own sexual assault issues

If confirmed, Hegseth would lead a U.S. military that has been trying to reduce the alarming rates of sexual assaults from military academies to overseas deployments.

In a notable shift, the Defense Department implemented a change earlier this year that grants independent military lawyers the authority to handle sexual assault cases,
removing these matters from the chains of command of either the accused or the victim.

This change to the military justice system was backed by the current defense secretary Lloyd Austin.