President-elect Donald Trump's original choice for the next U.S. attorney general pulled himself out of the race last week after facing mounting questions and an ethics investigation over allegations he'd had sex with a teenaged girl.
The departure of Matt Gaetz, who has denied wrongdoing, leaves other cabinet and advisory candidates who have either been accused of sexual misconduct or, in one case, accused of standing by while children were abused.
Allegations of sexual misconduct are not uncommon in politics, including against Trump — who has been accused of sexual misconduct by 19 women — but unusual for cabinet nominees to face such accusations. These are the allegations.
Pete Hegseth, secretary of defence
Pete Hegseth speaks with reporters following a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday in Washington. (Rod Lamkey, Jr./The Associated Press)Hegseth, 44, has been accused of locking a woman in his hotel room and assaulting her at a Republican women's event in 2017, according to a police report.
The woman, whose name has not been made public, told medical personnel a drug might have been slipped into her drink before she ended up in Hegseth's room in Monterey, Calif. She requested a sexual assault exam and the police collected her clothing as evidence.
No charges were filed. Hegseth and his lawyer have said the sexual encounter was consensual.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., health and human services secretary
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaks at a Trump campaign rally at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., on Nov. 1. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press)Kennedy, 70, has emerged as a key adviser to Trump on health policy.
A former family nanny accused Kennedy of groping her in 1999. Eliza Cooney, who was 23 at the time, claimed Kennedy once asked her to rub lotion on him while he was shirtless and, another time, groped her in a kitchen pantry and blocked her from leaving.
Kennedy responded to the allegation this summer during an interview, saying he had "so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world."
No charges were filed. NBC News reported he apologized to the woman in text messages earlier this year.
Linda McMahon, education secretary
Linda McMahon speaks during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18. (J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press)A lawsuit filed last month claimed McMahon failed to stop an employee at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) of sexually abusing "ring boys" who helped the late ringside announcer Melvin Phillips Jr. McMahon ran the company with her husband, Vince McMahon.
The claim was filed in Maryland on behalf of five anonymous plaintiffs who said they were between the ages of 13 and 15 at the time of the alleged abuse.
A statement from Jessica Rosenberg, lawyer for Vince McMahon, said the allegations are "untrue and unfounded."
Elon Musk, government efficiency
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk listens as U.S. president-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington on Nov. 13. (Allison Robbert/Reuters)Trump has tapped Musk, the world's wealthiest man, to help lead an outside advisory panel known as the "Department of Government Efficiency." It's not a cabinet position and carries no statutory authority, but a quasi-official exercise to identify government waste.
In June, eight former SpaceX employees sued Musk and his company and claimed they treated women "as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size." The lawsuit described an "Animal House" workplace environment in which lewd sexual banter was common and those who complained were told to look for a job somewhere else. Musk has denied the allegations.