A California girl instructed police that veteran and media host Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s choose for protection secretary, sexually assaulted her in 2017 after he took her telephone and refused to let her depart a resort room, an in depth police report mentioned.
The police report, launched after a public data request, says the sufferer within the case, a lady recognized solely as Jane Doe, was an organizer on the California Federation of Republican Girls occasion on the Hyatt Lodge in Monterey when the alleged incident occurred between the evening of Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 in 2017.
Based on the first narrative within the report, which cites a nurse at Kaiser Permanente, Doe was at a resort bar ingesting alcohol with co-workers. She doesn’t bear in mind many of the evening and believes she was drugged, in line with the police report. Doe instructed the nurse she remembers being ejaculated upon in a resort room and believes she was raped.
Doe acquired care 5 days after the alleged incident occurred. A police officer who responded to the hospital after the nurse reported the incident mentioned Doe recognized Hegseth, a keynote speaker on the occasion who she was launched to at an after-party on the resort bar, because the suspect.
The police officer said Doe witnessed Hegseth inappropriately rubbing different ladies’s legs on the bar. She then had an argument with him on the occasion, which she says is the very last thing she will clearly bear in mind. Doe says she wakened in an unknown room that Hegseth was additionally in, and when she tried to go away, he blocked the door.
Doe says she then remembers Hegseth standing over her on a sofa totally bare after which ejaculating on her, earlier than throwing a towel at her and asking if she was okay, in line with the police report. She later walked again to her resort room.
Doe mentioned she didn’t totally bear in mind the occasion till having intercourse along with her husband nicely after the incident after which just a few days later went to the hospital.
The police officer mentioned he discovered video proof of the argument between Doe and Hegseth at a pool on the resort, which later reveals the 2 strolling along with linked arms, with Doe reportedly smiling. There isn’t any additional video proof of the 2 after they walked again to the resort bar.
Within the report, Hegseth says he doesn’t bear in mind an argument by the resort pool and that he didn’t attempt to hit on Doe, however that she was occupied with him and will have led him to his resort room. Hegseth, who mentioned he was “buzzed” that evening, mentioned all the encounter was consensual and that Doe expressed remorse afterward for dishonest on her husband.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition staff for remark, however a spokesperson instructed the AP that the police report “corroborates” Hegseth’s story, which is “the incident was fully investigated, and no charges were filed because police found the allegations to be false.”
The police report didn’t disclose whether or not officers imagine the allegations are true or false.
Hegseth, identified for his earlier function as co-host of Fox Information’s “Fox & Friends Weekend,” instructed police on the time that the encounter was consensual and denied wrongdoing.
He was picked by Trump to steer the Pentagon shortly after this month’s election, and his nomination got here as a shock given his relative lack of expertise; Hegseth was an infantry officer within the Military Nationwide Guard.
The Monterey Police Division confirmed final week that it was investigating sexual assault allegations that got here to gentle after his nomination.
Hegseth’s lawyer argued he was “completely innocent” and was really the topic of blackmail from the accuser. The lawyer famous he paid the lady in 2023 to fend off a possible lawsuit.
Lots of Trump’s Cupboard picks are dealing with scrutiny forward of affirmation — together with former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) as lawyer common and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of nationwide intelligence — and Hegseth has acquired important backlash over the allegations.
Hegseth is the second Trump Cupboard choose to be investigated for sexual misconduct. Gaetz, who resigned from Congress after receiving Trump’s nomination to move the Justice Division, was accused of sleeping with an underage lady, and Congress is battling over releasing a associated Home Ethics Committee report back to the general public.
Up to date at 12:21 p.m. EST
