Gloria Allred advocates for uncomfortable sex questions for all of Trump’s cabinet picks at confirmation hearings

A prominent sexual harassment attorney has suggested that President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees need to answer a difficult question about sex. This could potentially reveal further instances of abuse, the attorney argues.

Trump’s process of selecting Cabinet members has faced controversy due to allegations of sexual misconduct against some nominees. This includes Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth and former Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz, who has since been withdrawn from consideration.

In an interview with DailyMail.com, Gloria Allred, known for representing numerous women in such cases, including several against Trump, believes that there may be additional victims who are staying silent due to confidentiality agreements. They could come forward if the right questions are asked.

As a result, Allred said, all Cabinet prospects, who must be confirmed by the Senate, should be forced to answer the same loaded question during confirmation hearings.

‘I think all nominees should be asked, “Have you entered into any confidential settlement with a person who accused you of sexually inappropriate behavior?” 

‘And if so, “will you agree to release the person with whom you settled from the non-disclosure clause from which he or she agreed?”‘ she told DailyMail.com. 

Allred, a civil rights attorney and women’s rights advocate who’s been dubbed ‘every predator’s worst nightmare’, wouldn’t say whether she’s representing any alleged victims herself, offering a snickering ‘no comment’ when asked. 

But she took heart in news reports last week that Hegseth, under pressure, had lifted his accuser’s non-disclosure agreement.

President-elect Trump’s Cabinet-building process has already been mired in controversy after allegations of sexual misconduct have emerged against several of his picks, including the now-dumped Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz, left, and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, right

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Gloria Allred, who has represented numerous women in sexual misconduct cases, has argued that all Trump Cabinet nominees should therefore be forced to answer the same loaded question during confirmation hearings

Allred hopes other nominees follow his lead.

‘I think the question should be asked and the answer should be public, even if the name of the accuser isn’t made public,’ she said.

The Trump transition got off to a rocky start last month when he started announcing his picks for his new cabinet, and a disturbing pattern emerged.

Gaetz, a former top MAGA Congressional ally the president-elect appointed to serve as US Attorney General, had faced allegations of sex trafficking, which became the subject of a three-year DoJ probe. 

On Monday it was revealed a House Ethics Committee investigation had found Gaetz paid over $90,000 for sex with multiple women, including a 17-year-old girl.

Hegseth, an ex-Fox News host and former National Guard officer nominated for Secretary of Defense, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017 at a conference in Monterey, California. 

He admitted he paid the woman for her silence because he did not want to lose his job.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., selected to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, was accused of sexually assaulting a former family babysitter in the late 1990s.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., selected to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has a controversial track record of his own. Pictured: RFK Jr. and former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in October

Kimberly Guilfoyle’s alleged sexual misconduct resurfaced in the wake of her nomination to become the United States Ambassador to Greece 

Elon Musk, who has been appointed to co-lead the proposed DOGE, is being sued by eight former SpaceX engineers claiming they were fired after raising their concerns about alleged sexual harassment and discrimination of women

Elon Musk, appointed to co-lead the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), allegedly paid $250,000 to one of his company’s corporate flight attendants who accused him of exposing himself and propositioning her for sex during a flight in 2016. 

He is being sued by eight former SpaceX engineers claiming they were fired after raising their concerns about alleged sexual harassment and discrimination of women.

Education Secretary nomination Linda McMahon is accused of ignoring alleged abuse of underage ‘ring boys’ during her time with World Wrestling Entertainment

Trump’s pick for secretary of education, Linda McMahon, is accused in a lawsuit of ignoring abuse of underage ‘ring boys’ when she was co-founder and President of World Wrestling Entertainment.

And Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump’s son Don Jr.’s ex-fiancée, who is nominated to become the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, now faces fresh scrutiny over claims she was let go by Fox in 2018 over alleged sexual harassment of her female assistant.

The raft of allegations against Trump nominees were seen as obstacles but not necessarily disqualifiers for confirmation, especially given Trump’s own history, and the reality that American voters elected him to a second term even after dozens of women accused him of mistreatment, and a jury found him liable for sexually assaulting columnist E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996.

‘From Trump’s point of view, it’s about power and threatening members of the Congress, especially Republican members, that they need to vote for his nominees,’ Allred told DailyMail.com.

Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary to President George W. Bush, saw it differently, saying the public as with lawmakers shouldn’t rush to judgement.

On Hegseth, he said: ‘I don’t think it’s fair (to judge him) until you hear all the evidence. There’s still been no hearing, and no named accuser.’

Trump praised Hegseth last week and said the Senate not confirming him would be a ‘tragedy’

President-elect Donald Trump announced Hegseth, 44, as his nominee for Defense Secretary on November 14

Fleischer cited former Minnesota senator Al Franken as an example of someone who was unfairly railroaded out of office in 2017 when a snapshot surfaced of him pretending to grope a sleeping woman.

‘I publicly defended Franken back then,’ Fleischer said. ‘What he did was wrong, but whether he should be removed from the Senate or not should have been up to the people of Minnesota, not Washington.

‘At the height of the #MeToo movement, everything that was said by anybody, especially if it was said anonymously, had to be believed or you were a pariah,’ Fleischer continued. 

‘And famously we saw many accusations, especially against political figures including Brett Kavanaugh, not be borne out,’ he said referring to the Supreme Court justice.

‘Given that history, combined with an environment today in which people want fundamental change in Washington, and want change agents installed, things are different,’ he said.

Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist who has served on 20 political campaigns, acknowledged that Democratic leaders have also faced their own share of scandals, including Bill Clinton’s infamous coverup of his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky that led to his impeachment. 

But she said that the sheer volume of allegations against Trump nominees has set a new precedent.

‘We’ve come a long way from the days when presidential nominees would be disqualified because they paid their household help off the books to now when you have multiple potential cabinet members accused of sexual assault and other transgressions,’ Smith said.

‘It just goes to show that in a post Trump world, these things seem to matter less,’ she continued. 

‘And in a post Trump world, the things that Republicans always said they cared about – family values, personal rectitude – really don’t matter. 

‘They’re willing to throw all those things out the window for one person, Donald Trump.’

She’s anxious to see how the senate ends up handling the various accusations.

‘They shouldn’t all be treated the same,’ Smith said. ‘A credible allegation of sexual assault should be treated very differently from an allegation that Kimberly Guilfoyle shared an inappropriate photo in the workplace.’

Bill Dailey, a fellow at the Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at University of Notre Dame, told DailyMail.com that he took heart in the fact four Republican senators came out against Gaetz, tanking his nomination.

He said he’s hopeful senators will do the same for other nominees if ‘they don’t pass muster’.

‘I read the Hegseth police report, and I could see how a senator can read that and still vote for him if, after meetings and further investigation, they felt that he’s in a better place now,’ Dailey said. 

‘At least it certainly looks like they are making him make a case and making him sweat, and it looked like the president was even ready to drop him.

‘There are a lot of checks and balances in the system and some of them appear to be working,’ he added.