Hegseth has maintained that a 2017 encounter was consensual but paid the unnamed woman as part of a nondisclosure agreement.

His choice for defense secretary, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, is facing allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017 and then paid her a settlement. A separate report also accuses Hegseth of being an extremist during his time in the National Guard.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit, according to Hegseth’s lawyer.