Trump himself has long been accused of misbehaving or abusing women and was once caught bragging about grabbing women’s genitals. A New York City jury found him liable for sexual assault and defamation and eventually ordered the woman, E.Jean Carroll, to pay $83 million in damages.
Taken together, there are a number of cases in which potential high-level government officials in the second Trump administration face allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump and all his nominees for the administration have denied the claims against him, with some accusing the cases of being politically motivated.
Six members of the more than 15-member leadership team are facing charges, nearly a third of the White House’s top staff have a history of misconduct claims.
Here’s a look at what’s known about the cases:
President-elect Donald Trump
A jury in New York last year found Trump guilty of sexually assaulting Carroll, an advice columnist, in 1996.
The verdict was split: Jurors rejected Carroll’s claim that she was sexually assaulted, and found Trump guilty of a lesser degree of sexual assault. The judges also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll over his allegations. Trump did not attend the civil trial and was absent when the verdict was read.
Carroll was one of more than a dozen women who accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. She went public with her allegation in a 2019 memoir that the Republican raped her in the dressing room of a posh Manhattan department store.
Trump denied this, saying he never encountered Carroll at the store and did not know her. He called her a “nut job” who invented “a fraudulent and false story” to sell a memoir. She has similarly denied the claims of other women.
Pete Hegseth, nominee for Secretary of Defense
According to a detailed investigative report released this week, a woman told police that Hegseth sexually assaulted her in 2017 after he took her phone, locking the door to a California hotel room. gave and refused to let him go.
The report said Hegsoth told police at the time that the encounter was consensual and denied any wrongdoing.
News of the allegations came to light last week when local officials released a brief statement confirming that a woman had accused Hegseth of sexual assault after he spoke at a Republican Women’s event in Monterey in October 2017. was accused.
Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said in a statement that the police report confirms that “everything I said was fully investigated and the police found the allegations to be false, leading to no charges being filed.” Not done.”
The woman was paid as part of a secret settlement a few years after the police investigation, Parlatore said, because Hegseth feared she was ready to file a lawsuit that he feared would result. He may be fired from Fox News, where he was a popular host. Parlor would not disclose the amount of the payment.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services
A woman who babysat for Kennedy and his second wife told Vanity Fair magazine that he molested her in the late 1990s, when she was 23. Kennedy did not deny the allegation, telling a podcast: “I had a very, very turbulent youth.” After the story was published, he sent an apology to the woman.
According to an interview the woman gave to USA Today this week, she said she was taking care of her children at Kennedy’s home in Mount Kisco, New York. He said the attack happened shortly after he started working there. During a meeting at the kitchen table with Kennedy and another man, she said she felt him rub his leg under the table.
She told the newspaper that another time, Kennedy, then 46, asked her to rub lotion on him while they were shirtless and she obliged because she wanted him to finish. . And he caught her in the kitchen pantry and held her, blocking her exit. She stayed on the job for a few more months before leaving.
Linda McMahon, nominee for Secretary of Education
A lawsuit filed last month alleged that McMahon knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by an employee of World Wrestling Entertainment in the early 1980s. She denies the allegations.
The lawsuit was filed in October in Maryland, where a recent law change eliminated the state’s statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims, which would limit the age of the victims or how much time has passed. The doors to filing a lawsuit were opened.
The complaint alleges that Melvin Phillips, who died in 2012, targeted youths from disadvantaged backgrounds and employed them as “ring boys” to help prepare for wrestling matches. were Phillips would then assault them in their dressing rooms, hotels and even wrestlers’ locker rooms, according to the complaint, which was filed by five men.
The lawsuits detailed abuses over the years during Phillips’ long tenure with the organization, which spanned from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Because of her death, Phillips is not among the named defendants.
Instead, the complaint targets WWE founder Linda McMahon and her husband Vince, who grew the organization into the powerhouse it is today. According to the complaint, the couple was well aware of Phillips’ brazen misconduct but did nothing to stop it.
“This civil lawsuit based on allegations that date back more than thirty years is filled with lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations about Linda McMahon,” Linda McMahon’s attorney, Laura Breotti, said in a statement. “At that time the matter was investigated by the company’s attorneys and the FBI, which found no reason to continue the investigation. Ms. McMahon will vigorously defend against this frivolous lawsuit and will no doubt ultimately be successful.” will
Beauty confirmed that Linda and Vince McMahon have split.
Elon Musk, Trump’s pick to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency
Tesla and SpaceXCEO Elon Musk were accused of sexual misconduct by a flight attendant contracted by SpaceX who worked on his private jet in 2016. He denied the claim.
A 2022 report by Business Insider said SpaceX agreed not to sue the woman in exchange for a $250,000 severance in 2018 over her claim.
Business Insider’s report was based on an account by a friend of the flight attendant, who said the flight attendant told him shortly after the incident. The report also states that the flight attendant was required to sign a nondisclosure agreement that prohibits her from discussing the payment or anything else about Musk and SpaceX.
SpaceX did not respond to emails seeking comment Friday.
Musk responded to the allegations on Twitter, which he was in the process of buying when it came to light.
“And, for the record, these wild allegations are completely false,” he wrote in response to a user who tweeted his support.
He responded with another: “In my 30-year career, including the entire MeToo era, I have nothing to report, but, as I say, I’m on Twitter to restore free speech and vote Republican.” Intended to give, suddenly it happened…”
Matt Gaetz, who withdrew from Trump’s pick for attorney general.
The former Florida congressman was embroiled in a sex-trafficking investigation by the Justice Department that he was tapped to lead. He was also under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee over allegations including sexual misconduct — until he resigned from Congress this week. He then withdrew his name for consideration.
Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and said last year that a Justice Department investigation into allegations of sex trafficking of underage girls ended without federal charges against him.
Federal investigators are looking into a trip that Gaetz took to the Bahamas with a group of women and a doctor who donated to his campaign, and according to people familiar with the matter, the women had sex with the men. Compensation paid or gifts received for establishment. Discussing the investigation publicly is not allowed.
According to the women’s attorney, two women told House investigators that Gaetz paid them for sex, and one woman testified that she saw him having sex with a 17-year-old boy.
The committee began investigating Gaetz in April 2021, delayed its work in response to a Justice Department request, and renewed its work shortly after Gaetz announced that the Justice Department had closed its sex-trafficking investigation. .
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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
