Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth received a net-positive reaction to his nomination as Defense secretary in a poll released Sunday, despite a sexual assault allegation—which he denies—that could complicate his Senate confirmation process.
Pete Hegseth, former host of Fox & Friends, at the National Council of Young Israel Gala in New York ... [+]
A total of 33% of Americans polled by CBS/YouGov in a survey released Sunday said Hegseth was a good choice for Defense secretary, while 28% said he’s not a good pick and 39% said they haven’t heard enough about him.
Hegseth was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a California hotel in 2017, though he was never charged by police and has denied the allegations, which were made public after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for the Defense secretary role.
Hegseth’s accuser told police in Monterey, Calif., she was at an afterparty for a conference of the California Federation of Republican Women, where Hegseth was a speaker, when she confronted Hegseth about his allegedly inappropriate behavior with other women at the conference, then ended up in a hotel room with him where she remembers him hovering over her shirtless and ejaculating on her stomach, according to a police report made public last week.
The woman, identified as “Jane Doe” in the report, told police she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot” when she was with Hegseth in his room and that Hegseth “took her phone from her hands” then “blocked the door with his body” when she tried to leave, according to the report.
Hegseth, who told police the two had consensual sex that night, according to the document, responded directly to the allegations for the first time Thursday, telling reporters at the Capitol “as far as the media’s concerned, it’s very simple, the matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m going to leave it” when asked by a reporter if he sexually assaulted a woman in Monterey.
At least one Republican senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa—a member of the Senate Armed Services committee who has openly criticized the military’s handling of sexual assault allegations—has expressed reservations about Hegseth, telling Politico the claims are worthy of a “discussion,” adding “any time there are allegations, you want to make sure they are properly vetted.”
Hegseth, or any cabinet nominee that requires Senate approval, can afford to lose only three Republican votes to be confirmed for the job as the GOP will hold a slim 53-47 majority beginning next year.
Hegseth and Vice President-elect JD Vance are lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and other GOP senators have expressed support, including Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who met with Hegseth on Thursday and told Politico he is a “strong nominee” who “pledged that the Pentagon will focus on strength and hard power—not the current administration’s woke political agenda.”
The sexual assault allegations first surfaced several days after Trump announced Hegseth as his pick to lead the defense department via a memo sent to his transition team from a woman who said she was friends with the accuser. The memo reportedly contains similar details to those in the police report. The accuser told police she went to the hospital, where a rape kit was performed, after having flashbacks to the incident several days after returning home from the conference, according to the police report.
Hegseth has firmly denied the allegations through his lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, who said Hegseth paid the woman a settlement in 2020 as part of a nondisclosure agreement. Parlatore said Hegseth entered into the agreement when he learned the woman and her husband hired a lawyer and told other people she planned to file a lawsuit against him. Hegseth told police he was intoxicated that night and did not know why the accuser returned to his hotel room with him, but that they had consensual sex, according to the police report. He said the woman “showed early signs of regret” the next morning, and he assured her that he would not tell anyone about the encounter, the report states.
No. Police recommended the case to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review, but charges were never filed.
Trump called Hegseth a “warrior” and “a true believer in America First” in a statement announcing the nomination on Nov. 12. The statement touts his service in the Army National Guard and his deployments to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan, along with his eight years as a Fox News host. A spokesperson for Trump’s transition team told the Associated Press in response to the police report being made public Thursday it “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 whether officials made a determination about the allegations.
Hegseth—who served in the National Guard—has argued women should not serve in combat roles, drawing some criticism. He’s also publicly and privately advocated for members of the military accused of war crimes. The Guardian reported Friday that Hegseth, who would oversee the military, wrote in his 2020 book “American Crusade” that if President Joe Biden won the election, the military and police would be “forced to make a choice” and that there would be “some form of civil war.” Trump has previously suggested he would use the military to go after domestic political opponents, which he described as “the enemy from within.”
Police Report Details 2017 Sexual Assault Allegation Against Pete Hegseth (Forbes)
Trump’s Defense Secretary Pick Pete Hegseth Named In 2017 Sexual Assault Probe (Forbes)