Rape allegation against Hegseth could blow up Trump’s Cabinet pick

After taking office by winning the popular vote for the first time – about half of the votes Hillary Clinton The margin he lost in 2016 – President-elect Donald Trump The 78-year-old Republican was choosing people to lead the nation’s most important institutions based largely on their personal loyalty and on-air presence, and then he immediately went out and showed his arrogance. It’s a display of the raw power and uncontrolled impulses that compel senators in his own party to either praise their leader’s genius or risk his ire on social media.

Pete HegsethTrump’s choice to lead the Defense Department is testing how far (or low) Senate Republicans are willing to go in terms of collective moral decline. Hegseth, an Iraq war veteran, was selected from Fox News studios to serve in the second Trump administration; insulted women He was in the military and was flagged for possible extremist, white nationalist views while serving in the National Guard.

Hegseth has no experience that suggests he can run a department with more than three million employees. But the real deal breaker might be her sordid personal life.

In a world where an alleged pedophile is a serious candidate for attorney general, it may be too much to ask for the Republican-controlled Senate to confirm another man accused of a sex crime. In 2017, police in Monterey, California, arrested Hegseth.sexual assault allegationThis is a fact that came to light just one day after he was nominated for Defense secretary. investigation It stemmed from a sexual encounter with a married woman at a conference in the city hosted by the California Federation of Republican Women: Hegseth, whose first two marriages ended after he was accused of infidelity, insists the encounter was consensual, but the alleged victim — who had bruises on her right thigh — He told police he was coerced after escorting the defendant to his room from the hotel bar, where other guests allegedly described him as drunk.

No charges were filed, but Hegseth paid the woman an undisclosed sum, buying her silence. Today, his lawyer insists that he is the victim:extortion.”

Trump’s transition team responded to the statement with characteristic boldness, insisting that Hegseth had done nothing wrong and would be confirmed by the Senate. This despite the new inauguration of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles a pig in a poke According to Vanity Fair, for alleged misconduct.

But now there are rumors of a backup plan. Tuesday night, Vanity Fair reported this The transition team is “quietly compiling a list of alternative defense secretary candidates in case Trump dumps Hegseth,” two sources close to the president-elect said. “This is becoming a real possibility,” one source said; “The general consensus is that Pete is dishonest,” said another.

The Senate may not be the only consideration. The preference is clearly for Trump’s nominees to be approved by the upper house, but if that’s not possible, the president-elect is reportedly considering a dubious plan to bypass the legislature. recess appointmentspossibly by forcibly adjourning Congress. Just the threat of publicly and openly neutering the Senate might be enough to get the GOP caucus to fall in line.

Elected Republicans are already employing their favorite trick since Trump’s first presidency: claiming they didn’t see the terrible thing reporters ask about.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday he did not have time to examine the claim that the next man to lead the Pentagon is a rapist.

“Let me just say this: I wanted to read the allegations and frankly I didn’t have time to look at them, so I can’t comment,” Wicker said. he told reporters. But he didn’t seem bothered, adding: “I intend to be very supportive of his candidacy.”

“Let’s remember,” Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., another member of the Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday, “Donald Trump was elected to shake up Washington the way it did, and I think one of the reasons why he chose Pete This.” Hegseth.”