The attorney for former Fox News host Pete Hegseth — President-elect Donald Trump’s candidate for defense secretary — confirmed to NBC News on Sunday that Hegseth paid a woman an undisclosed amount after she accused him of sexual assault in 2017, as part of a settlement agreement.

Timothy Parlatore, Hegseth’s attorney, said in a statement: “In 2023, Hegseth paid the complainant as part of a civil confidential settlement agreement and maintains his innocence. This is a situation where a consensual encounter occurred and, unfortunately, the woman had to come up with a lie to explain why the woman had not come back to her husband’s room that night. It wasn’t reported until days later until there was pressure from her husband. It was fully investigated by police and video surveillance as well as multiple eyewitness statements show that she was the aggressor.”

Parlatore’s statement comes after The Washington Post reported that a friend of Hegseth’s accuser sent a memo to the Trump transition team detailing the allegations.  Parlatore confirmed that the memo was related to an encounter Hegseth and the unnamed woman had in Monterey, California, during a conference of the California Federation of Republican Women.

Parlatore said that that Hegseth settled the matter because he feared his career would suffer if her allegations were made public, and that Hegseth was the victim of “blackmail and false claims of sexual assault … knowing that it was the height of the MeToo movement and any public accusation would result in his immediate termination from Fox, Mr. Hegseth ultimately decided to enter into a settlement for a significantly reduced amount.”

In a post on X, Stephen Cheung, Trump’s communications director, said that the president-elect is standing by Hegseth:  “Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed. We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense.”

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