A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room, and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report made public late Wednesday (November 20, 2024).

“Hegseth, a Fox News personality and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Defense Secretary, told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing,” the report said.

News of the allegations surfaced last week when local officials released a brief statement confirming that a woman had accused Mr. Hegseth of sexual assault in October 2017 after he had spoken at a Republican women’s event in Monterey.

Hegseth’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Thursday (November 21, 2024). He has said Mr. Hegseth paid the woman in 2023 to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit.

The 22-page police report was released in response to a public records request and offers the first detailed account of what the woman alleged to have transpired — one that is at odds with Mr. Hegseth’s version of events. The report cited police interviews with the alleged victim, a nurse who treated her, a hotel staffer, another woman at the event, and Mr. Hegseth.

The woman’s name was not released, and The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually assaulted.

A spokeswoman for the Mr. Trump transition said early Thursday (November 21, 2024) that the “report corroborates what Mr. Hegseth’s attorneys have said all along: the incident was fully investigated and no charges were filed because police found the allegations to be false.”

The report does not say that police found the allegations were false. Police recommended the case report be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review.

Investigators were first alerted to the alleged assault, the report said, by a nurse who called them after a patient requested a sexual assault exam. The patient told medical personnel she believed she was assaulted five days earlier but couldn’t remember much about what had happened. She reported something may have been slipped into her drink before ending up in the hotel room where she said the assault occurred.

Police collected the unwashed dress and underwear she had worn that night, the report said.

The woman’s partner, who was staying at the hotel with her, told police that he was worried about her that night after she didn’t come back to their room. At 2 a.m., he went to the hotel bar, but she wasn’t there. She made it back a few hours later, apologizing that she “must have fallen asleep.” A few days later, she told him she had been sexually assaulted.

The woman, who helped organize the California Federation of Republican Women gathering at which Mr. Hegseth spoke, told police that she had witnessed the TV anchor acting inappropriately throughout the night and saw him stroking multiple women’s thighs. She texted a friend that Mr. Hegseth was giving off a “creeper” vibe, according to the report.

After the event, the woman and others attended an afterparty in a hotel suite where she said she confronted Mr. Hegseth, telling him that she “did not appreciate how he treated women,” the report states.

A group of people, including Mr. Hegseth and the woman, decamped for the hotel’s bar. That’s when “things got fuzzy,” the woman told police.

She remembered having a drink at the bar with Mr. Hegseth and others, the police report states. She also told police that she argued with Mr. Hegseth near the hotel pool, an account that is supported by a hotel staffer who was sent to handle the disturbance and spoke to police, according to the report.

Soon, she told police, she was inside a hotel room with Mr. Hegseth, who took her phone and blocked the door with his body so that she could not leave, according to the report. She also told police she remembered “saying ‘no’ a lot,” the report said.

Her next memory was laying on a couch or bed with Mr. Hegseth hovering over her bare chest, his dog tags dangling over her, the report states. Mr. Hegseth served in the National Guard, rising to the rank of major.

After Mr. Hegseth finished, she recalled him asking if she was “OK,” the report states. She told police she did not recall how she got back to her own hotel room and had since suffered from nightmares and memory loss.

At the time of the alleged assault in 2017, Mr. Hegseth, now 44, was going through a divorce with his second wife, with whom he has three children. She filed for divorce after he had a child with a Fox News producer who is now his wife, according to court records and social media posts by Mr. Hegseth. His first marriage ended in 2009, also after infidelity by Mr. Hegseth, according to court records.

Mr. Hegseth said he attended an afterparty and drank beer but did not consume liquor, and acknowledged being “buzzed” but not drunk.

He said he met the woman at the hotel bar, and she led him by the arm back to his hotel room, which surprised him because he initially had no intention of having sex with her, the report said.

Mr. Hegseth told investigators that the sexual encounter that followed was consensual, adding that he explicitly asked more than once if she was comfortable. Mr. Hegseth said in the morning the woman “showed early signs of regret,” and he assured her that he wouldn’t tell anyone about the encounter.

Mr. Hegseth’s attorney said a payment was made to the woman as part of a confidential settlement a few years after the police investigation because Mr. Hegseth was concerned that she was prepared to file a lawsuit that he feared could have resulted in him being fired from Fox News, where he was a popular host. The attorney would not reveal the amount of the payment.

President Donald Trump appears on Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth at a Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride event in the East Room of the White House on April 6, 2017.
| Photo Credit: AP

One of Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks just became even more so: Pete Hegseth, tapped for Defence Secretary, was accused of sexual assault in 2017, according to police.

No charges were filed in the case, but shocked Trump transition team officials are nonetheless reportedly weighing next steps for the Fox News host, whose nomination took many in Washington by surprise.

President-elect Trump nominated the 44-year-old National Guard veteran on Tuesday (November 12, 2024) to run the world’s most powerful military, despite having never managed a large organization.

The police in Monterey, California confirmed on Thursday (November 14, 2024) that they had investigated “an alleged sexual assault” at a hotel involving Mr. Hegseth that included bruising to the victim’s right thigh, in early October 2017.

News of the woman’s accusations caught the Trump team off guard, according to Vanity Fair, which first reported the story.

Mr. Hegseth’s lawyer Timothy Parlatore told the publication that the allegation “was already investigated by the Monterey police department and they found no evidence for it.”

And Mr. Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said that Mr. Hegseth “has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed.

“We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again,” Mr. Cheung said.

Mr. Hegseth’s hearing in the Senate is likely to be among the more fraught, not only due to his lack of experience but also other controversies, such as his lobbying of Mr. Trump during his first term to pardon service members accused of war crimes.

Mr. Hegseth joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 and now co-hosts Fox and Friends Weekend and serves as a host for Fox Nation.

He additionally served as an infantry officer in the National Guard, deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The accusations against Mr. Hegseth come as Mr. Trump’s pick for attorney general, far-right former congressman Matt Gaetz, stunned many following his lengthy embroilment in sexual misconduct allegations.

And Mr. Trump himself was convicted of financial wrongdoing for covering up payments to a former porn star and found liable for defaming and sexually abusing an author.

Mr. Hegseth has been married three times, divorcing his first wife in 2009 following an “irretrievable breakdown” and “infidelity,” according to the Washington Post.

His second wife filed for divorce in September 2017, one month after he had a baby with a Fox News producer whom he subsequently married, according to U.S. media.