Police report reveals assault allegations against Hegseth, Trump's pick for defense secretary

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — A woman told police she was sexually assaulted in 2017 after Pete Hegseth took her phone, closed the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report. It was made public late Wednesday.

Hegseth, a former Fox News personality and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, told police at the time that the encounter was consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said.

News about the allegations It was revealed last week when local officials showed up After Hegseth spoke at a Republican women’s event in Monterey in October 2017, he released a brief statement confirming that a woman had accused him of sexual assault.

“The matter was fully investigated and I was fully exonerated,” Hegseth told reporters Thursday at the Capitol, where she met with senators to build support for her nomination.

The report does not say that police determined the allegations were false. Police recommended that the case report be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review.

Hegseth’s attorney, Tim Palatore, said the woman was paid an undisclosed amount In 2023 as part of a secret agreement the threat of what he describes as a baseless lawsuit.

22-page police report published in response to a public records request and provides the first detailed account of what the woman claims occurred — which contradicts Hegseth’s version of events. The report included police interviews with the alleged victim, a nurse who treated her, a hotel clerk, another woman at the event, and Hegseth.

The woman’s name has not been released, and The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted.

A spokesman for Trump’s transition said Thursday that the “report confirms what Hegseth’s legal team has been saying all along.”

Investigators were first alerted to the alleged assault by a nurse who called them after a patient requested a sexual assault exam, the report said. The patient told medical staff that he thought he had been attacked five days ago, but could not remember much of what happened. He reported that something might have been added to his drink before he went to the hotel room where he said the attack occurred.

The report stated that police collected the unwashed dress and underwear she wore that night.

The woman’s partner, who was staying at the hotel, told the police that he was worried about her when 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. He returned a few hours later and apologized, saying he “must have overslept.” A few days later, she said she had been sexually assaulted.

The woman who helped organize the California Federation of Republican Women meeting at which Hegseth spoke told police 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.

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

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

He remembered drinking at the bar with Hegseth and others, according to the police report. He also told police 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 police, according to the report.

According to the report, he soon told police that he was in a hotel room with Hegseth when Hegseth took his phone and blocked the door with his body so he couldn’t get out. He also told police he remembered “saying ‘no’ a lot” to police, the report said.

According to the report, his next memory was of lying on a couch or bed with a bare-breasted Hegseth hovering over him, his dog tag dangling. Hegseth served in the National Guard and rose to the rank of major.

He recalled Hegseth throwing in the towel at him after he finished speaking and asking “if he was okay,” the report said. He told police he didn’t remember getting back to his own hotel room and had been having nightmares and memory loss ever since.

At the time of the alleged attack, Hegseth, now 44, was in the process of divorcing his second wife, with whom he had three children. According to court records and Hegseth’s social media posts, she filed for divorce after having a child with the Fox News producer who is now her third husband. Her first marriage also ended in 2009 after Hegseth was infidelity, according to court records.

Hegseth, who joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 and then co-hosted “Fox & Friends Weekend,” left the network after Trump announced his intention to nominate her.

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

He said he met the woman at the hotel bar and that she took him by the arm and took him to the hotel room, which surprised him because he had not initially intended to have sex with her, the report said.

Hegseth told investigators that the sexual intercourse that followed was consensual, adding that he explicitly asked if she was comfortable on more than one occasion. 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.

Hegseth’s lawyer said a payment was made to the woman as part of a secret settlement several years after the police investigation because he was concerned that Hegseth was ready to file a lawsuit that he feared could get him fired from Fox News. He was a popular host. The lawyer did not disclose the amount of the payment.

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Slodysko reported from Washington and Linderman from Baltimore.

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