Police investigated sexual assault allegations against Pete Hegseth in California; here’s what they found

Fox News star and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, is being investigated by police over sexual assault allegations.

In a detailed investigative report obtained by The Associated Press, a woman told authorities she was sexually assaulted in 2017 after Hegseth took her phone, closed the door of a California hotel room, and refused to let her leave.

The 22-page police report was released in response to a public records request and provides a detailed account of what the woman alleges occurred.

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The report included police interviews with the alleged victim, a nurse who treated her, a hotel clerk, another woman at the event and Hegseth, according to the AP.

Citing the report, the AP said Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter with the woman was consensual and denied any wrongdoing.

Last week, local officials released a brief statement confirming that Hegseth was accused of sexual assault by a woman in October 2017 after he spoke at a Republican women’s event in Monterey, California.

Hegseth’s lawyer said he paid the woman in 2023 to stave off the threat of a false lawsuit. The AP noted that the report did not state that the police had determined that the allegations were unfounded. Officials recommended that the case report be submitted to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review.

What did the police find?

According to the AP, citing the report, the alleged assault was first reported to authorities by a nurse who called them after a patient requested a sexual assault examination.

The patient told medical staff that she thought she had been attacked five days earlier but could not remember much of what happened.

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He reported that something might have been added to his drink before going to the hotel room where the alleged assault took place. Authorities collected the unwashed dress and underwear the woman wore that night.

Allegedly, the woman’s partner, with whom she was staying at the hotel, told authorities that he was worried about her after she did not return to her room that night.

He went to the hotel bar at 2 a.m., but the woman wasn’t there. The woman returned a few hours later and apologized, saying she “must have fallen asleep,” the report said. A few days later, she said she had been sexually assaulted.

What did the woman say about the incident?

The woman who helped organize the California Federation of Republican Women meeting at which Hegseth spoke told authorities she witnessed the TV host behaving inappropriately throughout the night and saw him fondling the buttocks of multiple women. She texted a friend saying Hegseth gave off a “creeper” vibe, according to the report.

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After the incident, the woman and others said she confronted Hegseth at an after-party at a hotel suite and told him he “didn’t appreciate how he treated women,” according to the report, according to the AP.

A group of people, including Hegseth and the woman, left the hotel bar, and that’s when “things got blurry,” the woman told police.

The woman remembered drinking at the bar with Hegseth and others, the police report said. He also told authorities that he had argued with Hegseth near the hotel pool; This is an account supported by a hotel employee who was sent to deal with the disturbance and spoke to officers.

After this, the woman told police that she was in a hotel room with Hegseth and that she blocked the door with her body so Hegseth couldn’t take his phone and leave, and also that she remembered telling police “no too often.” according to the report.

According to the report, the woman stated that her next memory was of lying on a couch or bed, with Hegseth hovering over her bare chest and his dog tags dangling above her.

After Hegseth finished speaking, he said the woman asked him if he was “okay,” the report said. He told authorities he didn’t remember getting back to his own hotel room and had been experiencing nightmares and memory loss ever since.

What did Pete Hegseth say about the incident?

Pete Hegseth said he attended an after party and drank beer but no liquor, and admitted he was “buzzing” but not drunk.

Hegseth said he met the woman at the hotel bar and she took him by the arm and led him to her hotel room, which caught him off guard because he had no initial intention of having sex with her, the report said.

Hegseth told authorities that the sexual intercourse that followed was consensual, adding that he asked multiple times if she was comfortable. Hegseth said in the morning that the woman “showed early signs of remorse” and assured her that she would not tell anyone about the encounter.

Court records obtained by the AP show that at the time of the alleged incident in 2017, Hegseth was in the process of divorcing his second wife, with whom he had three children.

Hegseth filed for divorce after having a child with her current husband, a Fox News producer, according to the AP report, based on court records and Hegseth’s social media posts. Her first marriage also ended in 2009 after Hegseth’s infidelity.