His decision to withdraw could potentially pave the way for Trump lawyer Todd Blanche – who was nominated to be the deputy attorney general – to move into the top spot.
Blanche was the lead counsel during the New York hush money trial that resulted in Trump being convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal with porn star Stormy Daniels.
Former President Donald Trump shares a light moment with his lawyer Todd Blanche while he attends his hush money trial in New York in May. Credit: nna\miriah.davis
But while he ultimately lost that case, he is seen as a relatively safe pair of hands to lead the justice department – and unlike Gaetz, has had experience as a lawyer working with the department.
But Gaetz is not the only scandal-plagued cabinet pick Trump has made. As the president-elect steps up his push to make Peter Hegseth the new Secretary for Defence, the Fox News host has been accused in a newly released police report of raping a woman after he took her phone, blocked the door of his hotel room and refused to let her leave.
Hegseth, a 44-year-old army veteran and co-host of Fox and Friends, was never charged over the incident, which took place when he was a keynote speaker at a California Federation of Republican Women conference in October 2017.
Pete Hegseth interviewing Donald Trump in his capacity as a Fox News reporter in 2017.Credit: nna\NPearson
But the 22-page report offers the first detailed account of what the woman alleged transpired — and one that is at odds with Hegseth’s version of the incident, which he insists was consensual.
According to the report, the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, told police she was staying at the Hyatt Hotel where she met Hegseth at an after party.
Both had been drinking that night and ended up in Hegseth’s hotel room, where she reported that he took her phone from her after asking who she had been texting. She claimed she blocked the door with his body when she tried to leave the room, and that she repeatedly told him ’no.” He then sexually assaulted her.
Hegseth has admitted paying the woman in 2023 as part of a confidential settlement to head off any potential threats to his career at Fox, the Rupert Murdoch owned cable network where he came to Trump’s attention.
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Speaking briefly at Capitol Hill – where he is lobbying Republican Senators to give him the job of running the multi-billion-dollar Defence Department – Hegseth told reporters: “I’ll keep this very simple: the matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared. That’s where I’m going to leave it.”
And while news of allegations surprised Trump’s team when they first emerged last week, Republicans have nonetheless rallied around the nominee as he met with Senators at Capitol Hill on Thursday (Friday AEDT) to call for their support.
Among them was Republican Senator Bill Hagarty, who posted a photo with Hegseth and Vice President-elect JD Vance after their meeting saying he looked forward to confirming him.
“Pete knows that the Defence Secretary’s job is to empower the men and women of our military to carry out their patriotic duty, not consign them to serve as political pawns in a broken Washington,” said Hagerty, who is reportedly also under consideration for a spot in Trump’s new administration.
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