Several of the president-elect’s top picks to lead his government have been accused of sexual misconduct. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration.
Originally published by The 19th
A number of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet-level nominees have been accused of sexual harassment and assault, and one has faced allegations of child sex trafficking. Credible allegations of impropriety — let alone allegations of misconduct or assault — have often been cause for withdrawal or disqualification. But Trump — who has faced dozens of accusations of sexual misconduct dating back to the 1970s — has been known to surround himself with men who have also faced similar allegations.
The president-elect typically denies the legitimacy of accusations related to sexual misconduct and defends the men in his orbit.
In 2018, in response to sexual assault allegations against people in his own administration, Trump tweeted: “Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused — life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?”
As he prepares for a second term, The 19th is pulling together allegations of sexual assault and harassment against the president-elect’s Cabinet-level picks, which includes the heads of 15 executive departments, and other senior positions.
Here is what we have found:
Pete Hegseth
Trump said he is nominating Pete Hegseth, a Fox & Friends weekend co-host and veteran of the Army National Guard, to lead the Department of Defense. A staff member of the California Federation of Republican Women accused Hegseth of sexually assaulting her in 2017 after he spoke at a conference.
About five days after the alleged assault, an emergency room nurse contacted law enforcement after treating a woman who she said may have been drugged and raped, according to a 22-page batch of police documents that include the emergency room nurse’s report, the woman’s testimony to officers, and Hegseth’s version of the events. According to the police report, the woman confronted Hegseth for behaving “inappropriately” with other women at the hotel bar and they had an argument near the pool. She told police her next memory was being in an unknown room with Hegseth, who took her phone and blocked the door with his body when she tried to leave.
Hegseth paid an undisclosed amount to the woman as part of a nondisclosure agreement after she threatened litigation in 2020, according to legal documents obtained by The Washington Post. Hegseth maintains the sexual encounter was consensual and has denied all accusations. No charges were filed.
Hegseth could not be reached for comment.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Trump announced his intent to nominate Kennedy to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Eliza Cooney, a woman Kennedy hired decades ago to babysit his children, accused Kennedy of sexually assaulting her in the late 1990s, according to an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, published in July 2024.
Cooney, who was 23 at the time and a recent college graduate, told Vanity Fair that Kennedy rubbed her leg under the table during a family meeting, asked her to rub lotion on his back and once came up behind her in the kitchen, groping her rib cage and breasts until he was interrupted by another worker.
After Cooney’s allegations went public, Kennedy said during an interview on the “Breaking Points” podcast that the Vanity Fair article was “a lot of garbage” but admitted he was “not a church boy… I have so many skeletons in my closet.” The Washington Post also reported that Kennedy sent a text message to Cooney apologizing.
“I have no memory of this incident but I apologize sincerely for anything I ever did that made you feel uncomfortable or anything I did or said that offended you or hurt your feelings,” the text message said, according to the Post. “I never intended you any harm. If I hurt you, it was inadvertent. I feel badly for doing so.”
Linda McMahon
Trump picked Linda McMahon, the co-chair of his transition team, to head the Department of Education. She and her husband, Vince McMahon, founded the company now known as World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) and are both named as defendants in a lawsuit including claims of sexual misconduct.
The lawsuit, filed in October, alleges that multiple WWE staffers sexually assaulted underage boys in the 1980s and 1990s. The lawsuit claims that the McMahons created a work culture that allowed such sexual misconduct. These claims — referred to as the “ring boys scandal” — are discussed in the Netflix docuseries “Mr. McMahon,” released earlier this year.
McMahon served as the head of the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first presidential term before resigning to lead America First Action, a Trump-supporting Super PAC, and now chairs the America First Policy Institute, a think tank that works to advance Trump’s public policy platform.
McMahon’s lawyer, Laura Brevetti, said the civil lawsuit is “based upon thirty-plus year-old allegations” and “is filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations.”
“The matter at the time was investigated by company attorneys and the FBI, which found no grounds to continue the investigation,” Brevetti said in a statement. “Ms. McMahon will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit and without doubt ultimately succeed.
Elon Musk
Trump is enlisting Musk, along with 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, to lead a newly-conceived “Department of Government Efficiency.” It appears Musk will provide more of an outsider consultancy than lead a new government agency, which would have required congressional approval and funding.
Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX, is facing a lawsuit filed by eight former SpaceX employees who allege that he wrongfully fired them after they accused the company of tolerating sexual harassment in the workplace. According to court documents, each plaintiff “experienced exposure to unwanted conduct and comments of a sexual nature by Elon Musk.” Musk also allegedly interjected the work environment with “vile sexual photographs, memes and commentary that demeaned women and/or the LGBTQ+ community,” according to the lawsuit.
In response to news about a sexual harassment charge against him, Musk posted in 2022 on X, which he owns: “Finally, we get to use Elongate as scandal name. It’s kinda perfect.”
Musk could not be reached for comment.
Matt Gaetz (Withdrawn)
Trump nominated Gaetz to become attorney general, the nation’s top law enforcement official, but Gaetz — who faced allegations of illicit drug use and sexual misconduct — withdrew about a week later.
“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz posted on social media.
In recent years, both the Justice Department and a congressional committee have investigated sex trafficking allegations against Gaetz after a friend of his and rising figure in Florida politics, Joel Greenberg, pleaded guilty in 2021 to sex trafficking of a minor.
The Department of Justice ended its investigation last year without bringing criminal charges. The House Ethics Committee also investigated similar allegations and subpoenaed testimony from the woman who accused Gaetz of having sex with her when she was 17. Three eyewitnesses have testified that Gaetz had sex with a minor at a July 2017 party, according to separate court filings made public earlier this year. Just days before the Ethics Committee was set to vote on the public release of its findings, Gaetz resigned from the House, citing his prospective nomination. It is not clear whether the House will still release the report.
Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing.
Candice Norwood contributed reporting.
