Three of Trump's Cabinet selections have faced allegations of sexual misconduct
Three of President-elect Donald Trump’s high-profile picks to join his Cabinet have faced serious allegations of sexual impropriety.
Three of President-elect Donald Trump’s high-profile picks to join his Cabinet have faced serious allegations of sexual impropriety, complicating the calculus for Republican senators already weighing their professional qualifications as they decide whether to go along with their party leader on key government posts.
His choice for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is accused of having sex with a 17-year-old and paying two other women for sex. Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was accused of sexual assault. And his selection for health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was accused this summer of groping a former family babysitter.
Gaetz and Hegseth have denied the allegations. Kennedy responded to the allegation against him over the summer by saying: “I said in my announcement speech that I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world.” NBC News reported that he apologized to the woman over text messages this year.
Trump himself has faced various sexual misconduct allegations, which he has denied, though he was found liable last year for sexual abuse in a civil trial over an alleged incident in the 1990s that he also denies. Now, after having won the presidency again, he’s spending early political capital to confirm appointees who have faced sexual misconduct allegations of their own.
“I do think it’s smart politics for the president to pick a fight with Congress — he is a change agent that people sent to disrupt, and there are few institutions people dislike more than Congress. But he undercuts that message when he wants to have a fight over Matt Gaetz,” said Marc Short, an NBC News contributor who was former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff.
Rating: 5