Defense candidate Hegseth paid accuser but denies sexual assault, lawyer says

Pete Hegseth arrives at Trump Tower in New York in November 2016. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault under a confidentiality agreement, but maintained the meeting was consensual. statement from his lawyer on Saturday and other documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said Hegseth was “visibly intoxicated” at the time of the incident and maintained that police contacted a few days after the woman’s encounter concluded that “the Complainant was the aggressor in the encounter.” Police have not confirmed this claim.

The statement said Hegseth agreed to pay the woman an undisclosed amount because he feared exposure of the matter would “result in his immediate departure from Fox,” where he worked as a host.

The revelation comes after a woman who said she was a friend of her accuser sent a detailed memo to the Trump transition team this week. The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Post, alleged that he raped the then-30-year-old conservative group employee in her room after drinking at a hotel bar. The person who sent the memo to the transition team did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.

The accuser, who has not been publicly identified, filed a police report alleging she was sexually assaulted days after the Oct. 7, 2017, encounter in Monterey, California, but the local district attorney did not file charges. Police confirmed they were investigating the incident. Hegseth made the payment and signed the confidentiality agreement after Hegseth threatened to sue in 2020, his lawyer said.

4-page detailed note about the incident sparked discussion has been among the top Trump transition officials, but so far Trump has stood behind Hegseth. Spokesperson Steven Cheung said earlier this week: “President Trump is nominating highly qualified and highly qualified candidates to serve in his Administration. Mr. Hegseth vehemently denied all accusations and no criminal charges were filed. “We look forward to his confirmation as the United States Secretary of Defense so he can begin Day One of Making America Safe and Great Again.”

Documents from Hegseth’s lawyer and a note to the transition team from someone claiming to be his friend While both sides agree that Hegseth had sexual intercourse with a woman there, there is a woman “present and involved” in the case who tells very different stories about what happened at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa seven years ago.

Hegseth, whose second wife filed for divorce the previous month, had gone to Monterey to speak at the California Federation of Republican Women conference. Later, according to his lawyer, He went to the hotel bar with a group of participants.

The memo sent to the Trump team, details of which were not previously reported, stated that the woman, identified only as “Jane Doe” in the memo, was there with the California Federation of Republican Women. According to the note containing the woman’s complaint, the woman was staying at the hotel with her young children and husband.

one of ten Their responsibilities at the conference were to make sure Hegseth got back to his room and left in time for the 90-minute trip to the nearby airport the next morning, the memo said.

The complaint alleged that at some point during the evening, Jane Doe received a text from two women at the bar telling her that Hegseth “was becoming persistent in his desire to take them upstairs to his room.” The note said Jane Doe, who was nearby, came and talked to the two women and after they left “she remembered feeling Hegseth getting angry.”

What happened next is disputed.

According to the memo, Jane Doe “did not remember anything until she walked into Hegseth’s hotel room and stumbled to find the hotel room.” The note stated that her memory for six to nine hours was “so blurry” that her husband searched for her and was relieved when she finally showed up.

The next day, the woman returned home and “had a moment of blurry memories of being raped the night before and having a panic attack,” the note said.

The woman then went to the emergency room, where she was examined with a rape kit that was found “positive for semen,” the memo said. According to the memo sent to the transition team, the woman made a statement to district officials about what was happening.

His statement was not made public. The city of Monterey said in a statement Thursday that its police department investigated an allegation of sexual assault against Hegseth without charging any charges. Jane Doe’s friend wrote: The note stated that he had been with the woman at various events for 15 years and had “never known her to be irresponsible, drunk or of a suspicious character.”

According to his lawyer, Hegseth met the woman at the bar party and then said that the woman went to his room with him.

“Witnesses testified that Mr. Hegseth was visibly intoxicated but not when the Complainant grabbed him by the arm and led him to his hotel room,” Hegseth’s attorney testified. He said surveillance footage confirmed the pair were walking “with their arms locked” and the woman was smiling.

After the two entered the hotel room, the woman did not leave and became “the aggressor who initiated the sexual activity,” according to Hegseth’s attorney.

After the encounter, the woman “expressed concern because she did not return to her room,” according to Hegseth’s attorney. Hegseth told police she planned to tell her husband that she had fallen asleep on the couch in another guest room, according to the affidavit.

Hegseth’s lawyer also claimed that the woman’s medical examination found “no evidence that the sexual contact was non-consensual” and that the police investigation found no evidence to support charging Hegseth.

The woman’s friend said in a note to transit officials that she believed no charges were brought because the woman “couldn’t remember all the details” and that the situation had become a “he said, she said” situation.

Dean Flippo, the Monterey District Attorney at the time of the incident, said in an interview Saturday that he did not remember the allegations. He said he had never heard of Hegseth until he read about his potential nomination for the Pentagon post.

“I don’t remember the incident at all and I’ve never heard of it before,” he said.

Flippo, who led the office for nearly 30 years until January 2019, said he would advise his staff to alert him if a case, such as the allegations involving Hollywood stars, had the potential to attract attention. “I would hope that my staff would let me know if something had promotional potential so we could be prepared to handle it. But in this case, I don’t remember that,” he said.

Flippo, now in his mid-80s, said the office takes allegations of sexual assault seriously, gathering as much evidence as possible and trying cases they think they can prove. “Is there proof beyond reasonable doubt? This is what we have as a responsibility in our business. Is this the answer to the question “Are we going to continue?”

The current district attorney, Jeannine Pacioni, did not respond to a request for comment.

Some time after the incident, the woman and her husband hired a lawyer “to ensure that Hegseth did not get off scot-free.” According to the memo sent to the transition team. The memo stated that Hegseth’s lawyer suggested signing a confidentiality agreement, the details of which were not made public. Hegseth’s lawyer said the agreement was signed about two and a half years after the alleged assault.

Hegseth’s attorney said that two years after the incident, the woman “began making noise” about filing a lawsuit, prompting Hegseth’s attorney to send a cease and desist letter.

Parlatore provided The Post with a copy of the letter dated Feb. 2, 2020, with the recipient’s name redacted and wrote: “If you choose to continue to file a frivolous lawsuit against my client, my client has instructed our firm to pursue all available legal remedies against you.” The letter continued: “Both you and Mr. Hegseth have spouses, families and children whom you undoubtedly love dearly, and it is in no one’s best interest to fight in the open – especially in a situation like this, where both the law and the facts are against.”

Hegseth’s attorney said in December 2020 that the woman retained an attorney who began negotiations on the matter. “Hegseth felt strongly that the Complainant was the victim of blackmail and innocent collateral damage because of a lie she kept to keep her marriage intact,” the lawyer said in his statement.

However, “knowing that the MeToo movement had reached its peak,” Hegseth “ultimately decided to reach a settlement for a significantly reduced amount.” The statement did not specify the amount requested or reduced or when it was paid.