Former GOP communications director Tara Setmayer said on MSNBC on Saturday that women who voted for President-elect Donald Trump need to have a “conversation with themselves” after several of his Cabinet nominees have been accused of sexual misconduct.
Trump has recently faced backlash over his choice in nominees, former Representative Matt Gaetz, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, billionaire Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his upcoming administration as they have all had sexual assault allegations made against them.
While Gaetz, a Florida Republican, has since withdrawn his nomination for U.S. attorney general, he faced scrutiny after he was investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for alleged involvement in sex trafficking and has been accused of allegedly engaging in sexual relations with a 17-year-old girl. The DOJ did not press charges, but the House Ethics Committee reopened its probe in 2023. Gaetz has denied these allegations.
Hegseth, who served in the U.S. Army where he did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan and who Trump nominated to be his defense secretary, is facing scrutiny over a sexual assault allegation in California seven years ago. A woman alleged Hegseth sexually assaulted her after he prevented her from leaving a hotel room. Hegseth said the allegations are false and that the encounter was consensual. No charges were filed against him.
His attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told Newsweek on Thursday that the “police report confirms what I have said all along: that the incident was fully investigated and police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges were filed.”
Musk, who has been appointed by Trump to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has also faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2022, a SpaceX flight attendant accused him of exposing himself to her, the Associated Press reported.
In June 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had pursued sexual relationships with several female SpaceX employees. Musk has denied these allegations and labeled them as politically motivated.
Meanwhile, Kennedy Jr., who is nominated for Health and Human Services secretary, was accused of groping a babysitter in the late 1990s and faces allegations from journalist Olivia Nuzzi, who described her relationship with Kennedy Jr. as “toxic” and “crazy.” Kennedy Jr. has denied these allegations.
Newsweek has reached out to Gaetz, Hegseth, Musk, and Kennedy Jr. via email for comment on Saturday.
In a MSNBC News’ Reports appearance on Saturday, Setmayer, a former adviser to conservative anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project and an ex-Republican congressional staffer, condemned not only the nominees for their sexual misconduct allegations but Trump’s leadership as she challenged women who voted for him to have a “conversation with themselves.”
“The fact that we’re not just talking about one or two. We’re talking about several people who are credibly accused of pretty significant sexual misconduct. That is abhorrent and should be embarrassing but goes to show you that it flows from the head…I challenge all of the women who voted for Donald Trump, if they’re proud of this. If they can look their daughters in the eyes and say, ‘Yes I voted for someone who has no regard for women, for you, respect for you, for us, or for the safety of women’ because this is what they voted for,” Setmayer said.
She added: “It speaks volumes of who you put at the head, who you put at the top, who you represent as leaders. This is the type of leadership? I think it’s disgraceful and it is embarrassing. And I think for the women who voted for Donald Trump they really need to have a conversation with themselves about if they’re proud of this choice.”
Newsweek has also reached out to Trump’s campaign via email for comment.
Setmayer’s remarks come after an election exit poll shows a larger percentage of unmarried women voted for Trump in this year’s election than in 2020 despite a major voting gender gap predicted.
Historically, more women have voted for Democrats while more men have voted for Republicans, but the gender gap was a major theme in the run-up in this year’s election, with the divide predicted at one point to be the largest in history.
However, a CNN exit poll shows that fewer unmarried women voted for the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, than in 2020, when Joe Biden was its candidate, while more voted for Trump.
Some 59 percent of unmarried women cast a ballot for Harris, while 38 percent backed Trump, according to the poll, which questioned 22,914 people. In 2020, 63 percent of unmarried women backed Biden while 36 percent voted for Trump, according to the poll, which questioned 15,590 people.
The exit poll follows an election in which women’s issues such as abortion were a significant topic for voters and both campaigns.
Abortion has been a key issue since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022, as many Republican-controlled states have put abortion restrictions into effect, with 21 states banning or restricting the medical practice at every stage of pregnancy.
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