Transcript of Pete Hegseth's lawyer responds to allegations that could jeopardize Hegseth's nomination

Pete Hexath marched to Capitol Hill for a fourth consecutive day, fighting to save his nomination to lead the Pentagon, which is essentially hanging by a thread up to a few senators at this point, and amid multiple allegations, including from a whistleblower report in which former colleagues of his accuse him of being intoxicated at work events for a veterans advocacy group while also pursuing women staffers. I should note, CNN has not independently reviewed that report. It was first reported on by The New Yorker. When he was asked about those allegations today, Pete Hexeth was defiant.

Can you support the release of that whistleblower report for the concern? It's very interesting what the press likes to dub a whistleblower report. Which some others might clarify as a email from a disgruntled employee.

My source tonight is Pete Hexet's personal attorney, Tim Parletory. Some more familiar source on this show, I should know, during his time when he represented the former President of the United States. It's great to have you here, Tim. Clearly, Pete Hexet does not like the term whistleblower report. We'll call it a complaint or whatever you would like. But if the committee wants to see that, which the incoming chair, Roger Wicker, has indicated that he does as, will it be made available to those senators?

Oh, absolutely. And just to clarify Pete's point there, when we call it a whistleblower complaint, that makes us sound like several employees put this thing together and send it to the organization. That's not what happened. What we're talking about here is an email from a single employee who was terminated a couple of years after the fact that was sent to Fox News to try and get him fired. It was investigated then. It was found to be basically US. And this document, we have no problem sharing it with the committee because, I mean, quite frankly, there's nothing in there that they didn't read in the New York already, and there's nothing in there that hasn't already been debunked by all of the other employees who are willing to put their name on the record.

Who investigated it?

It was something that was done by Fox News legal at the time.

Have you personally seen this complaint?

Oh, sure. Absolutely.

And so you haven't made it available to the committee yet, I'm assuming. Tell me if that's wrong, but you are prepared to make it available to them.

Sure. If they ask, I'll send it right over to them.

Okay, good to know. The other thing that today that Pete Hexet has done is denying that allegation of sexual assault. That was one of the first things that came up after Trump picked him to be his defense secretary. He has denied it fervently. It was settled in an agreement with this woman in 2017. Yesterday, when you were talking to Jake Tapper, you said that you believed it's extortion. But of course, as you know, extortion is also a crime. So if you felt that it was extortion, why not go to the police at the time?

Well, it was a decision that we made, and the email from the attorney, it was something that I don't know if it quite rises to the level of a criminal extortion that the police would take it on. But I think it certainly does meet the definition under the California law for civil extortion. And it was something that we were considering at the time. And quite frankly, with the violation of the agreement, if he is not confirmed as a Secretary of Defense, we may still bring a civil extortion claim against her.

So if he is not ultimately confirmed because of these allegations, you may take legal action against the person at the center of that agreement.

Absolutely. If the false claims of somebody that was part of an extortion that was then put out in violation of a settlement agreement ultimately causes him to lose his future employment opportunities, then yes, that is something that is worth bringing a lawsuit against her and her friend and potentially even the attorney for, yes.

We've heard some people say that she should be released from that nondisclosure agreement that was part of the settlement agreement. Is there any consideration between you and Mr. Hegset of doing that?

Well, so first of all, it's not a nondisclosure agreement. It's something where one party agrees not to disclose. This is a confidential settlement agreement that had confidentiality on both sides. That agreement has since been breached by her. And so as a result, I sent notice to her attorney that that agreement is no longer has any force effect. That's one of the reasons why I can talk about it here, because prior to that, the agreement prevented Mr. Hegset from talking about her conduct. So there is no NDA to release her from. And if she wants to go and talk about it, she can do it. I mean, certainly she She could do it at her own peril of a further defamation lawsuit. But and additionally, NDAs- Well, that's news.

People have been calling for her to be able to speak, and you're saying, I mean, you're his attorney. You're saying that from the agreement which you negotiated, that she Can come out and speak on CNN or wherever she chooses?

Of course. However, if she doesn't tell the truth, if she repeats these false statements, then she will be subject to a defamation lawsuit. And she's well aware of that. Her attorney was well aware that because of the breach of the agreement, that is no longer in any force in effect. She is free to speak if she wants. I've heard people saying, We release her so that she can testify before the committee. There is no such thing as an NDA that prohibits somebody from complying with a subpoena.

Okay, so you're saying that she could be- That's not us. You're saying she could be released. In terms of settlement agreements, is that the only settlement- I'm not saying she's already been released.

She released herself. Right.

Is that the only settlement agreement that Pete Hegset has signed with a woman? Yes.

I mean, obviously, divorce settlements, but But no, this is the only one.

Okay. Well, I just wanted to check because obviously we've seen meetings that he's had with people like Senator Joni Ernst. She was out today. I'm sure you saw this interview on Fox News where she declined to throw her support behind him. She said that she has not gotten to a yes yet. No one has said they're not voting for him, but she said she's not there yet. She said one thing that she wants is more vetting, to continue with the vetting process. She said, I think that is incredibly important. Has the Trump team submitted Pete Hegset's name to the FBI yet for a background check?

Oh, yes. He received the forms yesterday from the FBI, and we're working on them right now.

We've heard from others, Kevin Kramer, who said he does feel like he's leaning towards supporting him, barring any surprises. Are you confident that no surprises are going to come out as a result of that background check?

I am expecting that the background check is going to take a lot of the false stories that have been circulated in the media and it's going to put them completely to bed. I think that the surprise you're going to find is how false all the reporting has been.

Okay. A lot of news just made here. I just want to say the background check name has been submitted, so that means the FBI will start that process. You're saying that this woman could speak publicly about this, the center of that 2017 complaint, and that you are willing to turn over that complaint from where he previously worked to the Arm Services Committee. Tim Parletori, thank you very much for your time tonight.

All right. Thank you.