Pete Hegseth, who is President Donald Trump’s nominee for the role of defense secretary, made a payment of $50,000 to a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017, as revealed by the responses he provided to Senator Elizabeth Warren during the confirmation process.
These details surfaced after the Massachusetts Democrat submitted additional queries for Hegseth as he went through the vetting stage. Timothy Parlatore, Hegseth’s lawyer, chose not to comment on this amount, which had not been disclosed previously. However, Parlatore confirmed back in November that a settlement had indeed been reached. During his confirmation hearing last week, Hegseth maintained his innocence, describing the allegations against him as false.
The disclosure of the settlement coincided with the advancement of Hegseth’s nomination, which progressed along party lines in the Senate, with a final vote anticipated on Friday. Concerns have been raised by Democrats and two Republican senators regarding Hegseth, who has also faced allegations of heavy drinking and abusive behavior toward his second wife, accusations he vehemently denies.
Following Hegseth’s intense questioning at his confirmation hearing, Trump’s transition team provided briefings to the chairpersons of the Senate Armed Services Committee. They discussed an additional statement made by Hegseth’s second wife, Samantha Hegseth, which was submitted to the FBI. In that statement, it was indicated that Hegseth had ongoing issues with alcohol abuse, as reported by a source familiar with the FBI’s findings.
Senator Jack Reed expressed disappointment with the quality of Hegseth’s background check, claiming it was substandard. He issued a statement indicating that the recent reports regarding background briefings about Hegseth are indeed accurate, something he had never witnessed during his extensive tenure on the committee.
In response, Hegseth’s attorney asserted that Reed was being untruthful, explaining that while Samantha stated Pete drinks fairly often, she also recognized that they had not lived together for around seven years.
Additionally, senators received a statement from a former sister-in-law of Hegseth, alleging that he demonstrated a pattern of drunkenness and abusive behavior towards Samantha, causing her to fear for her safety. Both he and his ex-wife have refuted these claims, with Parlatore dismissing the affidavit as a politically motivated attempt to obstruct Hegseth’s confirmation process.
The $50,000 payment to the woman occurred several years after she reported to authorities that Hegseth had sexually assaulted her in a hotel room in California in 2017, where he allegedly blocked her exit and took her phone. Hegseth, for his part, insisted that the encounter was consensual and denied any misconduct.
According to the investigative report released in November, while the police did not determine the allegations to be false, they referred the case to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for further scrutiny. DA Jeannine M. Pacioni stated her office decided not to pursue charges in January 2018 due to insufficient evidence to meet the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Parlatore has indicated that the payment was part of a confidential settlement reached a few years after the police investigation concluded, stemming from concerns that the woman was preparing to file a lawsuit, which could jeopardize Hegseth’s position at Fox News.
