A written response from defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth to senators shows he paid $50,000 to the woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017. Hegseth's attorney previously said the former Fox News host paid that settlement because he "strongly felt he was the victim of blackmail.

Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he paid $50,000 as part of a confidentiality agreement to a woman who alleged he sexually assaulted her,

Senators vetting the nomination of Pete Hegseth for defense secretary received an affidavit from a former sister-in-law alleging that the onetime Fox News was abusive to his second wife to the point where she feared for her safety.