Trump and several of his cabinet members are accused of sexual misconduct

WASHINGTON (AP) — While Matt Gaetzhas withdrawn from the nomination process for Attorney General, President-elect Donald Trump has selected several other people for his cabinet and key staff positions who have been accused of some form of sexual misconduct.

Trump himself has done that has long been accused of abusing or mistreating women and once was caught bragging about grabbing women through the genitals. He was found liable by a jury in New York City for sexual abuse And gossip and finally ordered to pay the woman, E. Jean Carroll$83 million in damages.

All told, there are a striking number of incidents of potential high-ranking government officials in Trump’s second administration facing sexual assault allegations. Trump and all his administration leaders have denied the claims against them, with some of those accused claiming the cases are driven by politics.

Here is an overview of what is known about the cases:

President-elect Donald Trump

Jurors in New York last year found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll, an advice columnist, in 1996.

The verdict was split, with jurors rejecting Carroll’s claim that she was raped and finding Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse. Jurors also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll over her allegations. Trump did not attend the civil trial and was absent when the verdict was read.

Caroll was one of more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. She revealed in a memoir in 2019 that the Republican had raped her in the dressing room of an upscale Manhattan department store.

Trump denied itin which he said he never encountered Carroll in the store and did not know her. He has called her a “madman” who created “a fraudulent and false story” to sell a memoir. He has similarly denied claims from other women.

Pete Hegseth, candidate for Secretary of Defense

A woman told police she had been sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door of a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report made public this week.

Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter was consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said.

News about the allegations surfaced last week when local officials released a brief statement confirming that a woman had accused Hegseth of sexual assault in October 2017 after he spoke at a Republican women’s event in Monterey.

Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said in a statement that the police report confirms “what I have said all along that the incident was fully investigated and that police determined the allegations were false, and therefore no charges were filed.”

Parlatore said a payment was made to the woman several years after the police investigation as part of a confidential settlement Hegseth was concerned that she was prepared to file a lawsuit that he feared could lead to him being fired from Fox News, where he was a popular anchor. Parlatore would not disclose the amount of the payment.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services

A woman who babysat Kennedy and his second wife told Vanity Fair magazine that he groped her in the late 1990s, when she was 23. Kennedy did not deny the accusation, saying in a podcast: “I had a very, very turbulent childhood.” He texted the woman an apology after the story was published.

According to an interview the woman gave this week with USA Todayshe said she babysat his children at Kennedy’s home in Mount Kisco, New York. She said the attack happened shortly after she started working there. During a kitchen table meeting with Kennedy and another person, she said she felt him rubbing her leg under the table.

She told that to the newspaper another timeKennedy, then 46, asked her to put lotion on him when he was shirtless, and she agreed because she wanted to end it. And he grabbed her in a kitchen cupboard and groped her, blocking her exit. She stayed on the job for a few more months before leaving.

Linda McMahon, candidate for Secretary of Education

A lawsuit filed last month alleges that McMahon knowingly facilitated the sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment employee as early as the 1980s. She denies the accusations.

The suit was filed in October in Maryland, where a recent change in law removed the state’s statute of limitations on child abuse claims, opening the doors for victims to file a lawsuit regardless of their age or how much time has passed.

The complaint alleges that Melvin Phillips, who died in 2012, would target young men from disadvantaged backgrounds and hire them as “ring boys” to help prepare for wrestling matches. Phillips would then attack them in his locker room, hotels and even in the wrestlers’ locker room, according to the complaint, which was filed on behalf of five men.

The abuse described in the lawsuit occurred over several years during Phillips’ long tenure with the organization, from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Because of his death, Phillips is not among the named suspects.

Instead, the complaint focuses on WWE founders Linda McMahon and her husband Vince, who grew the organization into the powerhouse it is today. The couple was well aware of Phillips’ blatant misconduct but did little to stop him, according to the complaint.

“This civil lawsuit, based on more than three decades old allegations, is filled with blatant lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations about Linda McMahon,” Laura Brevetti, Linda McMahon’s attorney, said in a statement. “The matter was investigated at the time by corporate attorneys and the FBI, who found no grounds to continue the investigation. Ms. McMahon will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit and ultimately succeed without a doubt.”

Brevetti confirmed that Linda and Vince McMahon have divorced.

Elon Musk, Trump’s pick to lead the government’s new Department of Efficiency

Tesla And SpaceXCEO Elon Musk was accused of sexual misconduct by a SpaceX-contracted flight attendant who worked on his private jet in 2016. He denied the claim.

This is stated in a 2022 report from Business Insider SpaceX paid the woman $250,000 in severance in 2018 in exchange for her agreement not to sue over her claim.

The Business Insider report was based on an account by the flight attendant’s friend, who said the flight attendant told her about the incident shortly after it occurred. The report also said the flight attendant had to sign a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits her from discussing the payment or anything else about Musk and SpaceX.

SpaceX did not respond to emails seeking comment on Friday.

Musk responded to the allegations on Twitter, which he was buying at the time they surfaced.

“And for the record, these wild accusations are completely untrue,” he wrote in response to a user who tweeted in support of him.

He replied to another: “In my 30 year career, including all of it Me, too There’s nothing to report, but as soon as I say I plan to restore freedom of speech on Twitter and vote Republican, suddenly…’

Matt Gaetz, who withdrew as Trump’s pick for attorney general

The former Florida congressman was embroiled in a sex trafficking investigation by the Justice Department that he was said to be leading. He also faced scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee over allegations including sexual misconduct — until he resigned from Congress this week. He subsequently withdrew his name for consideration.

Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and said last year that the Justice Department’s investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls had ended without federal charges being filed against him.

Federal investigators were looking into a trip Gaetz took to the Bahamas with a group of women and a doctor who donated to his campaign, and whether the women were paid or given gifts to have sex with the men, according to people familiar with the matter and who are not allowed to discuss the investigation publicly.

Two female home investigators said Gaetz paid them for sex and one of the women testified that she saw him have sex with a 17-year-old, according to an attorney for the women.

The committee began its review of Gaetz in April 2021, postponed its work following a request from the Justice Department, and renewed its work shortly after Gaetz announced that the Justice Department had ended a sex trafficking investigation.

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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.