President-elect Donald Trump has nominated another Fox News host and personality to a Cabinet position in his incoming administration.
Trump named Sean Duffy, a former GOP congressman from Wisconsin, to be his Transportation secretary, according to multiple reports Monday evening.
Duffy served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019. He is the co-host of The Bottom Line. He was also a cast member on MTV’s Real World in the 1990s.
“Sean has been a tremendous and well liked public servant, starting his career as a District Attorney for Ashland, Wisconsin, and later elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District,” Trump said in the statement posted on Truth Social.
“During his time in Congress, Sean was a respected voice and communicator in the Republican Conference, advocating for Fiscal Responsibility, Economic Growth, and Rural Development. Admired across the aisle, Sean worked with Democrats to clear extensive Legislative hurdles to build the largest road and bridge project in Minnesota History,” he added.
Trump also called Duffy the “husband of a wonderful woman, Rachel Campos-Duffy, a STAR on FoxNews, and the father of nine incredible children.”
Campos-Duffy co-hosts Fox & Friends Weekend, the same program where Trump tapped another Cabinet nominee, Pete Hegseth, who departed the network on the day Trump announced him as his choice for Secretary of Defense.
The Fox News Channel issued a press release praising Duffy after Trump made his announcement.
“Sean Duffy provided valuable insights and analysis in co-hosting the FOX Business Network program, The Bottom Line,” the network said in a statement to Mediaite. “As Duffy departs FOX News Media effective today, we wish him the best of luck in his return to Washington. Moving forward, The Bottom Line will continue with Dagen McDowell joined by rotating co-hosts.”
Trump made the Hegseth announcement last week.
“I am honored to announce that I have nominated Pete Hegseth to serve in my Cabinet as The Secretary of Defense. Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country. Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” Trump said in the statement.
“Pete is a graduate of Princeton University, and has a Graduate Degree from Harvard University. He is an Army Combat Veteran who did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan. For his actions on the battlefield, he was decorated with two Bronze Stars, as well as a Combat Infantryman’s Badge. Pete has been a host at FOX News for eight years, where he used that platform to fight for our Military and Veterans. Pete’s recent book, “The War on Warriors,” spent nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE,” he added.
Trump concluded, “The book reveals the leftwing betrayal of our Warriors, and how we must return our Military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability, and excellence. Pete has also led two Veterans Advocacy organizations, leading the fight for our Warriors, and our great Veterans. Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”
Following his nomination, reports surfaced that Hegseth paid off a woman over a sexual allegation claim but there’s more to the story.
The decorated Army veteran says he was blackmailed during the #MeToo movement and paid off an accuser to keep her silent, his attorney Timothy Parlatore told the New York Post.
Hegseth paid an undisclosed settlement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault, though he has maintained that the encounter was consensual, his lawyer confirmed.
“Basically, he was totally innocent. He did nothing wrong here,” Parlatore said. “We went through a mediation and ultimately settled for far less than what she wanted. And that should have completely buried it.”
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The alleged incident occurred on October 7, 2017, in Monterey, California, involving an unidentified staffer from a conservative organization. The woman, who was in her 30s at the time, accused Hegseth, now 44, of raping her in his hotel room following a night of heavy drinking at the bar.
Parlatore declined to disclose the settlement amount or the woman’s identity but claimed she was sober at the time and had initiated the encounter with Hegseth.
“He had way too many drinks, and according to video surveillance and eyewitness testimony, this woman who was sober took advantage of him, and she was the aggressor,” he said.
“She took him by the arm and she led him up to his room,” said Parlatore.
