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Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin claims Donald Trump’s decide for protection secretary was “falsely accused” of sexual assault, defending his declare days earlier that Pete Hegseth had simply been “flirting” together with his accuser.
A just lately launched police report from the 2017 incident revealed that the lady, who has not been recognized, advised police that Hegseth blocked the door to cease her from leaving his lodge room and took her telephone away earlier than sexually assaulting her. Hegseth has maintained that the encounter was consensual.
Earlier this week, the Oklahoma senator advised reporters within the Capitol that he had learn the police report: “If you read it, you can clearly see that it was two people flirting with each other.”
On CNN Sunday, Mullin defended his earlier declare and mentioned that be believed Hegseth’s insistence that the encounter was consensual “was accurate,” he mentioned.
“There was no case here. He was falsely accused,” he added. “She was being the aggressor. Pete wasn’t even flirting with her. He was flirting with a different girl, and [the Jane Doe] was trying to flirt with Pete.”
Within the police report, one other woman advised authorities that Hegseth had invited her again to his lodge room, however she “politely declined.”
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Senator Markwayne Mullin defends Pete Hegseth, calling Hegseth’s accuser “the aggressor” (CNN)
CNN host Dana Bash pressed Mullin: “From your perspective, you believe his part of the story and not hers?”
“I absolutely do. He wasn’t charged. He wasn’t even kind of charged in this. There was no crime committed. The police dropped everything,” he replied.
Whereas he didn’t face charges, Hegseth paid the lady in 2023 as a part of a confidential settlement to stop a possible lawsuit, which he labeled as baseless.
“What’s unfortunate in today’s world is you can be accused of anything. And then especially if it’s something like this, you are automatically assumed to be guilty,” Mullin advised Bash.
Investigators in Monterey, California had been first notified in regards to the alleged incident by a nurse, who advised police a affected person got here to the hospital requesting a sexual assault examination for an incident that had occurred 5 days earlier, in accordance with the newly launched police report.
The affected person, recognized as Jane Doe within the report, mentioned she struggled to recollect what occurred, however recalled being intoxicated — and even speculated “something may have been slipped into her drink” due to her reminiscence lapses.
Though she didn’t bear in mind how, Jane Doe mentioned she wound up in Hegseth’s lodge room. She advised police that Hegseth “took her phone from her hands” and when she tried to go away his room, and that Hegseth “blocked the door with his body,” in accordance with the report.
She recalled “saying ‘no’ a lot” however “did not remember much else,” the report says.
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Protection secretary nominee Pete Hegseth speaks with the media as he departs a gathering on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on November 21. (REUTERS)
In the meantime, Hegseth advised police that once they went again to his room, the lady “sat down in the room and did not leave,” which he discovered “odd.” The {sex} was “consensual,” they’d mentioned him sporting a condom, and he “continuously asked Doe if she was [OK] because he did not want Doe to get in trouble,” in accordance with the report.
Hegseth is amongst a number of of Trump’s cupboard picks who has been accused of sexual misconduct.
A lot of the scrutiny has centered on now-former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, Trump’s preliminary decide for legal professional basic who later withdrew his identify from consideration.
Gaetz stepped apart after particulars emerged from two probes, together with allegations that he had sexual encounters with a 17-year-old woman. Data obtained by The New York Instances and ABC Information recommend that Gaetz paid greater than $10,000 to 2 girls who testified earlier than the a Home Ethics Committee
Following Trump’s election, a startling pattern emerged: males began posting the phrase “your body, my choice” on girls’s social media posts.
A few of Trump’s personal sexual assault accusers have additionally warned that his return to the White Home marks a troubling time for survivors.
“This is not a good time for survivors or victims,” one woman advised The Impartial within the days after Trump’s victory. “People are not going to speak up because, look, it’s falling on deaf ears. No one cares.”
Trump has denied all of the accusations towards him.
Trump’s transition staff was reportedly caught without warning when the main points of the sexual assault allegation towards Hegseth and the stories of his settlement grew to become public.
