Trump’s Cabinet is picking apart claims of military misconduct and conflict

The campaign of US President-elect Donald Trump is circling the wagons of many of his cabinet nominees as they are under heavy scrutiny, including allegations of misconduct.

His defense secretary Pete Hegseth denies allegations of sexual misconduct and potential attorney general Matt Gaetz is in the middle of an ethics investigation.

Trump’s health secretary nominee, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is facing a lot of criticism for his vaccine skepticism.

Trump will need the US Senate to confirm these nominees when he takes office in January, and while the chamber will be dominated by Republicans, his cabinet contenders will face a tough battle during bipartisan hearings.

On Friday, police said Hegseth, a Pentagon appointee, was under investigation for alleged sexual harassment in California in 2017.

Hegseth, a Fox News anchor and veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has never been arrested and denies wrongdoing.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said: “Mr. Hegseth has vehemently denied all charges, and no charges have been filed.”

Meanwhile, the BBC’s US partner CBS reported that Hegseth was once flagged as an “insider threat” by soldiers who thought he had a painting depicting white people.

Hegseth has denied any links to extremist groups.

A former member of the Minnesota National Guard, he has a tattoo on his bicep that reads “Deus Vult”, a Latin phrase for “God willing”, the cry of Christian crusaders in the Middle Ages.

Retired Master Sgt DeRicko Gaither told CBS: “I looked it up and this tattoo has ties to gangs.” He said he put the ink of the council on the leadership.

US Vice President-elect JD Vance rushed to Hegseth’s defense, saying the Latin phrase was a Christian motto. He accused the Associated Press, which first reported on the painting, of “abhorrent anti-Christian bigotry”.

Hegseth stepped down to serve as an official in Washington DC when President Joe Biden was inaugurated in 2021. In a letter published earlier this year, he said he was denied the job because of his tattoos.

Meanwhile, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, is facing allegations of misconduct while a member of Congress.

He resigned from his Florida seat in the US House of Representatives on Thursday within hours of Trump nominating him to lead the US Department of Justice.

His exit halted the release of a congressional report on allegations of sexual misconduct, illegal drug use and misuse of campaign funds.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, questioned Friday whether the report remains under wraps since Gaetz is no longer a member of the agency — even amid calls for him to be assigned as part of his evaluation of the role of US attorney general. .

Hours later, a lawyer for two women who testified to the House Ethics Committee about Gaetz urged lawmakers to release the panel’s report.

The lawyer, Joe Leppard, told CBS that one of his clients saw Gaetz having sex with a girl under the age of 2017 in Florida in 2017. Mr Leppard urged lawmakers to release the House Ethics Committee report.

However, the Justice Department last year investigated the allegations and declined to file charges against Gaetz.

He previously denied allegations that he slept with a 17-year-old boy while he was an adult at a party in Orlando.

The 42-year-old Florida lawyer wrote on Friday in X that “lies are being used to try to destroy me”.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump’s nominee to serve as head of the US Department of Health and Human Services, is currently facing criticism for his skepticism about the vaccine.

Shares in vaccine makers and healthcare companies around the world fell sharply on Friday, as investors feared the appointment of a campaigner who vowed to take down “Big Pharma”.

The head of the American Public Health Association, which has 25,000 members of health professionals, told the BBC that Kennedy’s criticism of vaccinations had “caused serious damage to the health of the country”.

George C Benjamin added that Kennedy was “the wrong person for it”.

Trump himself has so far not directly addressed the criticism of the voters.

The president-elect is still hiring his incoming administration, with vacancies such as FBI director and treasury secretary yet to be announced.