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 girls of sexual assault and rape, and simply final 12 months a federal jury discovered him accountable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll within the Nineties.
His rampant misogyny and disrespect for girls’s humanity has been a signature of his political profession. The whole nation heard him endorse sexual assault on the notorious “Access 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 “protect the women of our country … whether the women like it or not.” His unabashed sexism has labored as a canine whistle to lots of his most ardent supporters, together with a number of of these arrested for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 who HuffPost discovered had a historical past of violence towards girls.
“When we elect a president, we expect that president to provide security to women,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), vice chair of the Democratic Ladies’s Caucus, advised HuffPost. “When he appoints men who have been accused of sexual violence against women … he is betraying the women who voted for him, and he is betraying all women in America.”
Trump shocked even Republicans when he chosen now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz for legal professional basic. Gaetz has been the main target 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 expenses.
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The general public bought a sneak peek of the Home Ethics Committee’s findings on Monday when an legal professional representing two girls who testified earlier than the committee stated Gaetz paid the ladies for intercourse in 2017. One of many girls testified that she witnessed Gaetz having intercourse with an underage woman at a celebration, which happened the identical 12 months Gaetz was sworn into Congress.
Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Trump’s transition group denied the legal professional’s accusations on Monday, describing the allegations as “baseless.”
Trump additionally stated he plans to nominate Pete Hegseth, a Fox Information TV host and veteran, to be the following secretary of protection. Hegseth was investigated for sexual assault for a 2017 incident in Monterey, California, wherein he allegedly raped a lady working on the California Federation of Republican Ladies 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 removing from President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration over his allegedly white nationalist tattoo, and for publicly advocating towards girls serving in fight roles.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s choose for HHS secretary, was accused of sexually assaulting his household’s nanny within the late Nineties when Kennedy was married with 5 youngsters. It was reported earlier this 12 months that Kennedy texted an apology to the lady and stated he didn’t recall the incident. When requested concerning the allegation later, Kennedy stated: “I am not a church boy… I have 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 “Department of Government Efficiency,” was accused of exposing his genitals to a flight attendant in 2016 and tried to bribe her with items to carry out sexual acts, based on a Business Insider report. Musk’s firm SpaceX paid her $250,000 in 2018.
“If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light,” Musk advised Business Insider, including that the report was a “politically motivated hit piece” and there’s “a lot more to this story.” The Wall Avenue Journal printed 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 go DOGE, have allegedly fired staff who raised considerations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination at their respective corporations.
This development of welcoming males accused of violence or misconduct towards girls 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 wherein he allegedly stalked and touched a lady 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 trade for Lewandowski doing neighborhood service and paying a $1,000 fantastic.
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 doubtless means he’ll skirt any accountability for being convicted on 34 felony expenses earlier this 12 months. Gaetz hasn’t even been formally nominated for legal professional basic but, and the Republican powers that be are attempting 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 collect all of the information and permit accusers to testify in any affirmation hearings.
“In these nominations, we are seeing what survivors already know — when high-profile, high-powered individuals accused of sexual assault are promoted without fully considering the allegations, everyone suffers,” Simmons Kaleba advised HuffPost.
Irrespective of the end result, Trump’s determination to nominate males like Gaetz and Hegseth to a number of 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 Information. “I just broke down. I was very, very upset,” she stated of Lewandowski’s return to Trump’s orbit. “He has his power back.”
