Lindsey Graham says Pete Hegseth’s accuser will be freed from her NDA and urges others to come forward

Donald Trump’s nominee for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is willing to release a woman from a non-disclosure agreement to speak openly about an alleged sexual assault, Senator Lindsey Graham said.

The Republican senator from South Carolina made the revelation on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“He told me he was going to release her from that agreement,” Graham claimed.

“I would like to know if anyone nominated for a high-level job in Washington has legitimately attacked anyone,” the senator continued.

Graham urged anyone making accusations to do so publicly, but so did he indicated that he is willing to vote to confirm the newly elected president’s choice to lead the military and believes his side of the story.

“I feel in a good place with Pete unless something comes out that I don’t know about,” Graham said.

Hegseth, a veteran and former Fox News TV personality, was nominated by Trump last month to lead the Defense Department.

But his appointment has been hampered by allegations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement

Shortly after his nomination was announced, it came to light that he had paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault at a hotel in 2017.

According to the police report, Hegseth took the woman’s phone before preventing her from leaving his hotel room, where he then allegedly assaulted her.

Hegseth has denied all allegations against him and has insisted the incident at the hotel in 2017 was consensual. No charges have been filed against him.

Earlier this month, Hegseth’s attorney Timothy Parlatore told CNN he believed Hegseth’s accuser had already breached the agreement and said she should be prepared to be sued for defamation. He called her accusations “false statements.”

Parlatore said Hegseth only agreed to the settlement because he feared public accusations could damage his career.

Graham called the allegations against Hegseth “troubling,” but noted they are anonymous.

“Unless someone is willing to come forward, I think they’ll get through it,” Graham said.

While the senator said he was eager to hear the charges, he also praised Hegseth’s military service, saying he had known him for years and calling him a “friend.”

Graham compared the allegations against Hegseth to those against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

The sex abuse accuser came forward and testified publicly before the Senate and the world before Kavanaugh was confirmed to the life position by the Republican-controlled Senate.

Graham sat with Hegseth on Capitol Hill last week as the embattled nominee rallied support from Republican senators ahead of his confirmation hearings.

Afterwards, the senator wrote that it was a “very positive, thorough and candid meeting” and argued that personal misconduct “should only be considered by the committee if supported by testimony before Congress – and not by anonymous sources.” ‘

But as Hegseth works to shore up Republican Party support ahead of what could be a painful confirmation battle, it appears the public has turned against him.

A new AP-NORC poll, conducted Dec. 5-9, found that only 17 percent of adults strongly or somewhat approved of him, while 36 percent somewhat disapproved.

Another 37 percent said they don’t know enough to have an opinion about the nominee for secretary of defense. 11 percent neither agree nor disapprove.

But the president-elect appears to be sticking to his man.

Trump took Hegseth to watch the Army-Navy football game in Maryland on Saturday.

Footage shows him hanging out with Trump, newly elected Vice President JD Vance and other Trump supporters at the stadium in Landover.

On Monday, he told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that Hegseth has made “tremendous progress” over the past week.

‘He’s just a soldier, I think he’s a natural talent. This was my idea,” Trump revealed.

The president-elect claimed that when he asked Hegseth, the former Fox News personality didn’t hesitate and said “absolutely.”

‘He gave up a huge amount of money. If this didn’t work, it would be a tragedy,” Trump said.

Trump did not directly comment on the sexual assault allegations against his candidate during his remarks.