President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly and infamously been accused of sexual assault and misconduct, is now filling his Cupboard with a number of males who’ve allegedly dedicated the identical kind of violence.
Not less than 4 of Trump’s introduced nominations for his administration have been accused of sexual misconduct starting from sexual harassment to assault and rape. Trump himself has been accused by two dozen women of sexual assault and rape, and simply final 12 months a federal jury discovered him chargeable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll within the Nineties.
His rampant misogyny and disrespect for ladies’s humanity has been a signature of his political profession. The complete nation heard him endorse sexual assault on the notorious “Entry Hollywood” tape leaked forward of the 2016 election. Even his makes an attempt to appease feminine voters over a lot of his anti-woman rhetoric is laughably sexist. 5 days earlier than the 2024 election, he pledged to “shield the ladies of our nation … whether or not the ladies prefer it or not.” His unabashed sexism has labored as a canine whistle to a lot of his most ardent supporters, together with a number of of these arrested for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 who HuffPost found had a historical past of violence towards ladies.
“Once we elect a president, we anticipate that president to supply safety to ladies,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), vice chair of the Democratic Girls’s Caucus, advised HuffPost. “When he appoints males who’ve been accused of sexual violence towards ladies … he’s betraying the ladies who voted for him, and he’s betraying all ladies in America.”
Trump shocked even Republicans when he chosen now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz for legal professional normal. Gaetz has been the main focus of two investigations launched by the Justice Division and Home lawmakers over allegations of intercourse trafficking, sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. The DOJ dropped their investigation final 12 months with out prices.
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The general public received a sneak peek of the Home Ethics Committee’s findings on Monday when an legal professional representing two ladies who testified earlier than the committee said Gaetz paid the ladies for intercourse in 2017. One of many ladies testified that she witnessed Gaetz having intercourse with an underage woman at a celebration, which passed off the identical 12 months Gaetz was sworn into Congress.
Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Trump’s transition staff denied the legal professional’s accusations on Monday, describing the allegations as “baseless.”
Trump additionally mentioned he plans to nominate Pete Hegseth, a Fox Information TV host and veteran, to be the subsequent secretary of protection. Hegseth was investigated for sexual assault for a 2017 incident in Monterey, California, by which he allegedly raped a woman working on the California Federation of Republican Girls convention. He reportedly later paid the lady to remain quiet as a part of a 2020 nondisclosure settlement.
Hegseth maintains that the encounter was consensual. Hegseth can be identified for his push to pardon convicted battle criminals, his elimination from President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration over his allegedly white nationalist tattoo, and for publicly advocating towards ladies serving in fight roles.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s decide for HHS secretary, was accused of sexually assaulting his household’s nanny within the late Nineties when Kennedy was married with 5 kids. It was reported earlier this 12 months that Kennedy texted an apology to the lady and mentioned he didn’t recall the incident. When requested concerning the allegation later, Kennedy said: “I’m not a church boy… I’ve so many skeletons in my closet.”
Billionaire Elon Musk, tapped by Trump to spearhead a brand new initiative to chop federal spending known as the “Division of Authorities Effectivity,” was accused of exposing his genitals to a flight attendant in 2016 and tried to bribe her with items to carry out sexual acts, in keeping with a Enterprise Insider report. Musk’s firm SpaceX paid her $250,000 in 2018.
“If I have been inclined to have interaction in sexual harassment, that is unlikely to be the primary time in my whole 30-year profession that it involves mild,” Musk advised Enterprise Insider, including that the report was a “politically motivated hit piece” and there may be “much more to this story.” The Wall Road Journal published a report earlier this 12 months concerning the “boundary-blurring relationships” Musk has had with a number of feminine staff at SpaceX.
Each Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the opposite billionaire Trump selected to move DOGE, have allegedly fired staff who raised concerns of sexual harassment and gender discrimination at their respective corporations.
This development of welcoming males accused of violence or misconduct towards ladies started this 12 months even earlier than he received the White Home. Trump’s first marketing campaign supervisor, Corey Lewandowski, was charged with misdemeanor battery over a 2021 incident by which he allegedly stalked and touched a girl at a charity occasion. Regardless of being let go from the primary marketing campaign over the incident, Lewandowski was again at Trump’s facet this August as a senior adviser on his presidential marketing campaign. The 2021 case was later dismissed in alternate for Lewandowski doing group service and paying a $1,000 positive.
When individuals accused of violence are put in energy, they use that energy to bury their alleged crimes and keep away from accountability. Trump’s presidential win likely means he’ll skirt any accountability for being convicted on 34 felony prices earlier this 12 months. Gaetz hasn’t even been formally nominated for legal professional normal but, and the Republican powers that be are trying to bury the Home ethics investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct.
A few of these nominations, like Gaetz, might face difficulties in acquiring Senate affirmation. Jennifer Simmons Kaleba, vice chairman of communications at RAINN, known as on members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to not vote for Gaetz till they’ve reviewed the Home Ethics Committee report, urging the Judiciary Committee to assemble all of the information and permit accusers to testify in any affirmation hearings.
“In these nominations, we’re seeing what survivors already know — when high-profile, high-powered people accused of sexual assault are promoted with out totally contemplating the allegations, everybody suffers,” Simmons Kaleba advised HuffPost.
Regardless of the end result, Trump’s resolution to nominate males like Gaetz and Hegseth to among the strongest positions in his administration sends a transparent message to survivors of sexual violence.
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Trashelle Odom, the lady who accused Lewandowski of undesirable touching, summed up the sensation in an October interview with CBS News. “I simply broke down. I used to be very, very upset,” she mentioned of Lewandowski’s return to Trump’s orbit. “He has his energy again.”
