Donald Trump’s pick for the top law enforcement official and top Defense Department official in the country seem glaringly lacking in respect for the law when it applies to them or their prospective boss.

Matt Gaetz, who has withdrawn himself from consideration as attorney general, was accused of sexual misconduct, and now a detailed report by the Associated Press (see Recorder, Nov. 22) relates the allegation that Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, sexually assaulted a woman in his hotel room in 2017.

Trump knows nothing about the law except that if you can manage not to be convicted, you are “totally innocent,” and the law doesn’t apply to him or men like him. One might almost think that, after personal loyalty to him, the second qualification is lack of moral standards and contempt for the law.

I believe the very detailed account of Pete Hegseth’s accuser for the following reasons: She reported the alleged sexual assault to several people shortly after it happened, she had medical evidence collected, and he paid her to ensure that she would not take it to trial. It is unfortunate that she did not immediately seek medical evidence so they could also have determined whether she was drugged, but it might have been too late anyway.

I do not believe his account, because it is not believable. According to the police report, He said that “she led him by the arm back to his hotel room.” How did she know where his hotel room was?

There are almost never witnesses to rape, so conviction depends on who is believable. Apparently, the police found her story credible enough to do quite a thorough investigation. However, the probability of conviction, given the burden of proof, is not likely, and we don’t know the terms of the nondisclosure agreement or the amount of the payment to keep her silent. It is understandable that she would not trust the jury to do what Trump’s jury did when it convicted him of calling E. Jean Carroll a liar for saying he raped her. In a civil trial, the burden of proof is much less.

To place at the top of the Department of Defense a man who says women should not be in combat roles while the nation is facing a recruitment deficit seems counterproductive, unless one intends to bring back the draft. Not to mention that thousands of women are raped in the military without accountability.

Is there no one qualified that could be named to this office that the president-elect must scrape the bottom of the swamp to fill this critical position?

I hope the Senate will take its responsibility to “advise and consent” seriously and uphold the integrity of the departments tasked with protecting all the people.

Judith Truesdell lives in Greenfield.