Three of President-elect Donald Trump’s high-profile picks to join his Cabinet have faced serious allegations of sexual impropriety, complicating the calculations that measure the professional qualities of Republican senators when they decide to go with party leaders in key government posts.
Her pick for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is accused of having sex with and paying a 17-year-old boy. two other women for sex. Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense, has been accused of sexual harassment. The choice for secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was accused this summer of stalking a former family nanny.
Gaetz and Hegseth have denied the allegations. Kennedy responded to the allegations against him over the summer 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.” This was reported by NBC News apologized to the woman for the messages written this year.
Trump himself has faced various allegations of sexual abuse, which he has denied even though he was indicted last year. sexual abuse in civil court He also denies the incident that happened in the 1990s. Now that he’s won the presidency again, he’s spending early political capital to confirm appointees who have faced sexual abuse allegations of their own.
“I think it’s smart policy for the president to fight Congress — he’s an agent of change that the people send to intervene, and there are few institutions that people dislike more than Congress. But he subverts that message when he tries to make a case for Matt Gaetz,” said Marc Short, former chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, of NBC News.
“We’ve gone so far from disclosing nanny payments as a disqualification over the last couple of decades, I just think the people around the president know he wants to see them fight bad news cycles,” Short added.
Claims against Trump’s choices
Gaetz’s controversies over the years are back in the spotlight now that he’s running for a Cabinet post. While one of Gaetz’s former associates pleaded guilty to charges including sex trafficking of minors, the Justice Department dropped its sex-trafficking investigation into Gaetz, who resigned from Congress after Trump elected him, and did not accuse him of any crime. Meanwhile, House Ethics Committee investigation continued even before he resigned.
Some details of that investigation were released Monday, a lawyer representing the two women testified before him The Ethics Committee informed NBC News about this Gaetz paid them for sex on several occasions, including at a small, invite-only party in Florida. The attorney also added that a woman saw Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old friend, but added that Gaetz didn’t realize they had stopped “having sex” until she reached puberty.
Hegseth was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017, an allegation he denied through a lawyer who said the encounter was consensual and that the two had entered into a “civil confidential settlement agreement.” [even as Hegseth] protects his innocence.”
NBC News has not independently reviewed the memo, which was sent to the Trump transition team by a friend of the accuser, The Washington Post reported. Hegseth’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, confirmed it was related to the encounter.
And this year Vanity Fair published a lengthy profile of Kennedy conversation with one of her family’s former nannies, who said she was stalking him. Asked about the allegation on a podcast this summer, Kennedy brushed it aside: “I’m not a church boy.”
Short noted the difficult political cross-pressures Republican senators will face, especially before the Gaetz vote. Although some GOP senators agreed they want to see the House Ethics Committee’s report on Gaetzno one ruled out voting for him.
Republican senators running for re-election in 2026 “are in a really difficult position because if they oppose Trump’s nominee, the concern is that Trump will help recruit a primary challenger. But if they support someone like Matt Gaetz, you’re all but guaranteed a tougher general election. You’re in a catch 22,” Short said.
While Trump’s picks have been scrutinized, several Cabinet nominees over the past few decades, including several during the Bill Clinton and George HW Bush administrations, have been sidelined over allegations that they employed undocumented domestic workers, although President Barack Obama and Trump’s first candidates can pass in some cases. Others have financial problems as well as charges personal or professional misconduct.
Trump’s past choices have not been untouched.
Andy Puzder, Trump’s 2017 Labor Secretary nominee withdrew from the endorsement battle in the background of checking his business record, it worries him hired an undocumented domestic worker and the emergence of his video his ex-wife accused him of domestic violence. Puzder said he was unaware the employee was an undocumented immigrant and spokeswoman. told Politico at the time He said his ex-wife’s comments “retracted from 30 years of allegations”.
In 2018, Patrick Shanahan, who served as Trump’s defense secretary, abandoned the idea of permanently heading the Pentagon after The Post. informed about incidents of domestic violence related to family members. (Shanahan argued that the report paints an “incomplete and therefore misleading” picture of events.)
Also that year, Dr. Ronny Jackson (then the White House physician who later became a member of Congress) withdrew his name from the discussion to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. amid allegations of professional misconduct. (Jackson called the allegations “absolutely false and fabricated.”)
And in late 2018, Trump directly addressed young people trying to discredit a sexual assault lawsuit filed against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who denied the lawsuit. Kavanaugh was confirmed.
“It’s a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of.” Trump told reporters.
“You can be perfect your whole life and someone can accuse you of something,” he said.
Trump sticks to his choices
Now the Trump team is standing by its picks and ramping up its efforts on Capitol Hill ahead of next year’s confirmation hearings.
A transition official told NBC News that when Trump first called Gaetz to inform him of his plan to run for attorney general, Gaetz told Trump, “It’s going to be an uphill battle.” The official added that Trump has said it’s a battle he wants to fight, and that Trump himself has made calls to GOP senators.
Addressing the potential difficulty of confirming some of Trump’s controversial picks, another transition official said, “The president wants these nominees in his administration, and it’s our job to make that happen,” adding, “We know it’s going to be difficult. We just won an unprecedented election,” and Trump “he wants it done and we will do it.”
Trump briefly told reporters on Wednesday that he was not reconsidering Gaetz’s nomination. And Vice President-elect JD Vance hit Capitol Hill this week to arrange meetings with Gaetz and Hegseth for key GOP senators, a source familiar with the plans said.
Asked about both the nature of the charges against Gaetz, Hegseth and Kennedy and whether there were concerns that could make them more difficult to confirm, Carolyn Leavitt, spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition, said incoming White House press secretarysaid in a statement that Trump’s election was “a resounding mandate from the American people to change the status quo in Washington.” That is why he chose brilliant and highly respected outsiders to serve in his administration.”
“He will continue to stand behind MAGA as he fights back against all those who seek to undermine the agenda,” Leavitt said.