Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma said on Sunday that he doesn’t believe the woman who accused Trump’s secretary of defense nominee of sexual assault.
Fox News host Pete Hegseth, whom Trump tapped to head the DOD, was accused of rape in 2017 by a woman who attended a Republican women event in California. Her accusations are detailed in a 22-page police report, which Trump’s team allegedly did not know about before Trump tapped Hegseth for a Cabinet role.
“He wasn’t charged. He wasn’t even kind of charged in this. There was no crime committed. The police dropped everything there,” Mullin told CNN’s Dana Bash of the rape allegation against Pete Hegseth.
“What’s unfortunate, in today’s world, you can be accused of anything, and then, especially if it’s something like this, you’re automatically assumed to be guilty,” Mullin added.
While it’s true Hegseth wasn’t charged after the police report was filed, that doesn’t necessarily clear him of wrongdoing.
Prosecutors may not have believed there was enough evidence to prove the allegation beyond a reasonable doubt—something that happens often in rape cases as they are often based on competing accounts from the accuser and the accused.
“Out of every 1000 instances of rape, only 13 cases get referred to a prosecutor, and only 7 cases will lead to a felony conviction,” according to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network.
What’s more, Hegseth paid the accuser off to keep quiet about her allegations, which Hegseth reportedly feared could have cost him his Fox News gig.
Mullin isn’t the only Republican defending Hegseth in the face of rape allegations.
Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said he won’t let the rape allegation “distract” him and plans to vote for Hegseth without any more vetting necessary.
“Don’t let these allegations distract us,” Hagerty said of Hegseth. “What we need is real significant change. The Pentagon has been more focused on pronouns than they have lethality the past four years. We need to get back to business, and I think Pete is just the person to do it.”
Ultimately, not one Republican senator has come out publicly against Hegseth.
That includes Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a veteran who is a victim of sexual assault and has been vocal about the need for the military to address its problems of sexual violence. In 2019, Ernst was the only Republican to vote against Trump’s pick for vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had been accused of sexual assault by a fellow member of the military.
However, Ernst has raised concerns about the Hegseth allegations as well as his belief that women shouldn’t serve in combat.
“Any time there are allegations, you want to make sure they are properly vetted, so we’ll have that discussion,” Ernst told Politico.
Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota has also raised concerns about Hegseth but hasn’t said he will vote against him.
“It’s a pretty big problem, given that we have, you know, we have a sexual assault problem in our military,” Cramer said of the rape allegation against Hegseth.
In addition to the rape allegation against Hegseth, Democratic senators are pushing back on Hegseth because he is not qualified to run one of the largest segments of the federal government.
“Pete Hegseth never commanded a unit or a company—let alone battalions, brigades or whole armies. He does not have the experience to run a Department that includes 3 million servicemembers and civilians along with a budget of over $900 billion,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a veteran who lost both of her legs during a tour in Iraq, wrote on X Sunday. “He is unqualified and dangerous.”
Hegseth is one of a number of Trump’s Cabinet nominees who have faced allegations of sexual impropriety.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida had to abandon his nomination for attorney general because he was dogged by allegations that he sex-trafficked a minor.
Trump really knows how to pick the “best people.”
