Several of Trump’s Cabinet picks and Trump himself have been accused of sexual harassment

WASHINGTON — As Matt Gaetz withdraws from the attorney general nomination process, President-elect Donald Trump has selected several more people accused of some form of sexual harassment for Cabinet and key staff positions.

Trump himself has long been accused of harassing or mistreating women and was once caught bragging about grabbing women by the genitals. He was found liable for sexual harassment and defamation by a New York City jury and was eventually ordered to pay $83 million in damages to the woman, E. Jean Carroll.

Taken together, there are a striking number of incidents in Trump’s second administration in which potential senior government officials have faced allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump and all the names he chose for the government denied the allegations against them; Some people are accused of claiming that the cases stem from politics.

Here’s a look at what’s known about the cases:

President-elect Donald Trump

Last year, jurors in New York found Trump liable for sexually assaulting advice columnist Carroll in 1996.

The verdict was split: Jurors rejected Carroll’s claim that she was raped and found Trump responsible for lesser sexual abuse. Jurors also found Trump liable for defamation over his allegations against Carroll. Trump did not attend the civil trial and was not present when the verdict was read.

Carroll was one of more than a dozen women who accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. In a 2019 memoir, she went public with her claim that the Republican raped her in the dressing room of a luxury department store in Manhattan.

Trump denied this claim, saying he never met Carroll in the store and did not know him. He called her “crazy” for making up a “fake and false story” to sell a memoir. He similarly denied the allegations of other women.

Pete Hegseth, defense secretary nominee

A woman told police she was sexually assaulted in 2017 after Hegseth took her phone, closed the door to 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 of the allegations emerged last week when local officials issued a brief statement confirming that a woman had been accused of sexual assault after Hegseth spoke at a Republican women’s event in Monterey in October 2017.

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 police found the allegations to be unfounded, so no charges were filed.”

Parlatore said the woman was paid in a secret settlement several years after the police investigation because she was concerned Hegseth was ready to file a lawsuit that he feared could get him fired from Fox News. He was a popular host. Parlatore did 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 Kennedy groped her in the late 1990s, when she was 23. Kennedy did not deny the allegation, saying in a podcast: “I had a very, very rambunctious youth.” After the story was published, he texted the woman and apologized.

She said she was babysitting Kennedy’s children at his home in Mount Kisco, New York, according to an interview the woman gave to USA Today this week. He said the attack happened shortly after he started working there. She said that during a meeting with Kennedy and another person at the kitchen table, she felt him rubbing her leg under the table.

He told the newspaper that on another occasion, Kennedy, then 46, asked him to put lotion on him while he was shirtless, and he agreed because he wanted to put it aside. And he blocked her exit by grabbing her from the kitchen pantry and groping her. He remained at the job for a few more months before leaving.

Linda McMahon, nominee for secretary of education

A lawsuit filed last month alleges that McMahon knowingly permitted the sexual abuse of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment employee in the early 1980s. He denies the allegations.

The lawsuit was filed in Maryland in October; A recent law change here eliminated the state’s statute of limitations for child sexual abuse allegations, opening the door for victims to sue regardless of their age or how much time has passed.

The complaint alleges that Melvin Phillips, who died in 2012, targeted young men from disadvantaged backgrounds and recruited them as “populists” to help with preparations for wrestling matches. Phillips would then attack them in the locker room, at hotels and even in the wrestlers’ locker room, according to the complaint filed on behalf of the five men.

The misconduct detailed in the lawsuit occurred over several years during Phillips’ long tenure at the organization, which spanned from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Due to his death, Phillips is not among the named defendants.

Instead, the complaint targets WWE founders Linda McMahon and her husband Vince, who built the organization into the powerhouse it is today. The couple was aware of Phillips’ brazen abuse but did little to stop it, according to the complaint.

“This civil lawsuit, based on allegations dating back more than three decades, is filled with disgusting lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations regarding Linda McMahon,” Linda McMahon’s attorney, Laura Brevetti, said in a statement. “At that time, the matter was investigated by corporate attorneys and the FBI, and no grounds were found to continue the investigation. Ms. McMahon will mount a vigorous defense against this baseless lawsuit and will undoubtedly ultimately be successful.”

Brevetti confirmed that Linda and Vince McMahon had split.

Elon Musk is Trump’s pick to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was accused of sexual harassment by a flight attendant working on SpaceX’s private jet in 2016. He denied the allegation.

A 2022 report from Business Insider stated that SpaceX paid the woman $250,000 in severance pay in 2018 in exchange for agreeing not to sue over her claim.

The Business Insider report was based on a statement from the flight attendant’s friend, who said the flight attendant told her about the incident shortly after it happened. The report also stated that the flight attendant had to sign a confidentiality agreement prohibiting her from talking about payment or anything related to Musk and SpaceX.

SpaceX did not respond to emails seeking comment Friday.

Musk responded on Twitter that he was in the acquisition phase when the allegations emerged.

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

He replied to another: “I have nothing to report in my 30-year career, including the entire MeToo era, but when I said on Twitter that I planned to restore free speech and vote Republican, there’s something that pops up…”

Matt Gaetz withdraws over Trump’s attorney general pick

The former Florida congressman was implicated in a Justice Department sex trafficking investigation that he led. He was also under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee for allegations including sexual harassment until he resigned from Congress this week. He later withdrew his name for further consideration.

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

Federal investigators looked into Gaetz’s trip 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 men. They are not allowed to discuss the investigation publicly.

According to an attorney for the women, two female House investigators were paid by Gaetz for sex, and one of the women testified that she saw Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old boy.

The committee began examining Gaetz in April 2021, postponed its work at the request of the Justice Department, and renewed its work shortly after Gaetz announced that the Justice Department was ending its sex trafficking investigation.