The alleged victim who accused President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, of sexual assault said he took her cellphone and physically blocked her from leaving his hotel room during the 2017 encounter, according to a police report released Wednesday—new details that could complicate Hegseth’s Senate confirmation process.
Pete Hegseth, former host of Fox & Friends, at the National Council of Young Israel Gala in New York ... [+]
A nurse who examined the woman several days after the alleged assault first reported the allegations to police in Monterey, Calif., according to the 22-page report which identifies the woman only as “Jane Doe” and cites interviews with the alleged victim, the nurse, other witnesses and Hegseth (who has denied the sexual assault allegations through his attorney).
The woman told police she had been at a hotel afterparty for a conference of the California Federation of Republican Women, where Hegseth, then a Fox News host, 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, the report states.
The woman 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 told police the two had consensual sex that night, according to the document.
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 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 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.”
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.
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.
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)