Welcoming again his previous Fox Information colleague Pete Hegseth on Monday night time, Sean Hannity declared that the previous Fox & Associates host had been “totally exonerated” of rape accusations and that the alleged sexual encounter was “consensual.”

Persevering with his media blitz to avoid wasting his nomination as protection secretary, the embattled Hegseth appeared on Hannity’s primetime present and claimed that he had a “nice assembly” with Senator Joni Ernst. The Iowa Republican, who had been hesitant to assist Hegseth over sexual misconduct allegations and his views on ladies in fight, mentioned on Monday that he needs to be allowed to make his case throughout affirmation hearings.

“You get into these conferences and also you take heed to senators — it’s an incredible advise and consent course of — and also you hear how considerate, critical, substantive they’re on these key points that pertain to our Protection Division,” he declared. “And Joni Ernst is entrance and middle on that. So to have the ability to have cellphone calls and conferences and time once more to speak over the problems is actually, actually necessary. The truth that she’s prepared to assist me by means of this course of means lots.”

Ernst, a feminine fight veteran who helped lead the cost towards sexual assault within the army, had beforehand mentioned in interviews that she wasn’t but able to assist Hegseth’s nomination. “Quite a lot of our senators, they wish to guarantee that any allegations have been cleared, and that’s why now we have to have a really thorough vetting course of,” she mentioned final week.

Since then, Ernst has been the goal of a MAGA social media stress marketing campaign accusing her of betraying President-elect Donald Trump.

All through the sympathetic interview along with his one-time co-worker, Hegseth continued to disclaim the allegations towards him, noting that the majority are from nameless sources. Hannity, in the meantime, asserted that Hegseth had been totally cleared of all wrongdoing.

“The media mob doing what they predictably do,” Hannity declared. “You had a consensual relationship. It was investigated. You had been totally exonerated. And proper me if I’m flawed right here, wasn’t there videotape proof that was largely accountable for exonerating you?”

Whereas Hannity was considerably imprecise, it appeared he was speaking concerning the 2017 police report through which a lady claimed that Hegseth raped her in a California resort room. Throughout the investigation, which was closed with no fees filed towards Hegseth, police cited a video of the “smiling” lady and Hegseth strolling collectively in direction of the resort pool round 1 a.m.

Although Hegseth has denied allegations that he sexually assaulted the girl, claiming she was the “aggressor” and that the encounter was consensual, he paid an undisclosed sum to her to keep away from a lawsuit years later. He has asserted that he solely reached a settlement settlement to avoid wasting his job at Fox Information, and Hegseth’s lawyer has since threatened to sue the accuser.

“I imply, along with private witnesses and all of that, it was totally investigated on the time years in the past,” Hegseth reacted to Hannity. “I used to be utterly cleared. And that’s why, Sean, you recognize what I look ahead to? I’m trying ahead to the FBI background test. I look ahead to the precise, under-oath conversations with senators as we undergo the method as a result of, once more, that is what the left does, Sean. It’s the anatomy of a smear.”

He went on to complain that the media tried to “attempt you” earlier than nominees “may even get into the doorways with senators.”

Moreover the rape allegations, Hegseth has been accused in a number of stories of alcohol abuse and ingesting on the job, each as a Fox Information host and whereas he ran two totally different veterans advocacy teams. Hegseth and a number of other Fox Information colleagues have disputed claims that he confirmed up on the set of Fox & Associates with alcohol on his breath, and the previous Fox star has insisted he is not going to “have a drop of alcohol” if he turns into secretary of protection.

On high of that, Hegseth has additionally been accused of mismanaging funds on the veterans teams he led and drunkenly yelling “kill all Muslims” at a bar when he was CEO of the Involved Veterans of America. He additionally reportedly admitted to his first spouse that he had 5 totally different affairs throughout their 4 years of marriage. In current interviews, each Hegseth and his mother have described him as a “modified man” who has leaned into his Christian religion after marrying his third spouse.