Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin on Sunday defended Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon. He is under intense scrutiny for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman at a hotel in 2017.
“There was no incident here. He was wrongly accused,” Marin insisted in an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“As a father of three girls, I’ll admit that when I first heard that story I thought, ‘That’s not good.’ When I started reading the report, I said, ‘Wait a minute, there’s more to this story. ” I thought. When I sat down and had a conversation with Pete, it was a great conversation and he answered every single one of my questions, so I look forward to helping him get confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense. I am. ”
Key background: According to a newly released police report, the woman physically blocked Hegseth from leaving her hotel room, took her cell phone and “kept saying ‘no’ to her.” She told the police that she had sexually assaulted her, despite the fact that she had no recollection of the incident.
The 22-page report provides conflicting accounts of what happened, including conflicting accounts of how inebriated Hegseth and the woman were and descriptions of video surveillance that showed some of their movements that night. The competing narratives are summarized in new detail.
Hegseth was not charged with any crime in connection with the allegations. His lawyer acknowledged that Hegseth later entered into a settlement agreement with his accuser that included the payment of an undisclosed amount of money and a confidentiality clause.
Hegseth claimed the encounter was consensual, but his lawyer said the woman was prepared to come forward with accusations against him during the #MeToo movement, which led to his resignation as a Fox News host. He said he was concerned that he might lose his job.
Another Republican senator also weighed in. Republican Sen. Eric Schmidt of Missouri said lawmakers should question Hegseth about the allegations during his confirmation hearing, but also said Trump was chosen for his ability to shake up the Pentagon. insisted.
“Senators are definitely going to ask questions about that. They should, and he has a right to answer,” Schmidt said about the police report on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. spoke.
“At the end of the day, this is a decision made by President Trump to bring in a new disruptor,” he added. “The Department of Defense needs reform.”
This post has been updated to include comment from Republican Sen. Eric Schmidt.
CNN’s Sarah Davis, Eileen Graef, Casey Tolan, Scott Glover and Sarah Murray contributed reporting to this post.
