An attorney for Pete Hegseth, incoming President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Defense Department, said in a statement that Hegseth paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017 because he feared losing his job at Fox News, according to multiple reports.
Hegseth has denied the sexual assault allegation and was never charged. He paid the woman as part of a settlement agreement that included a confidentiality provision after she threatened litigation in 2020, the attorney told media outlets.
He is among a number of controversial nominees Trump has advanced for high-profile positions in his second administration. Hegseth has attracted attention for controversial views about woman serving in combat and diversity in the military, statements about firing military leadership and his lack of high-level experience in government or the national security sphere.
A Tennessee man who was arrested for his involvement in the January 6 Capitol riot in...
