A woman told Monterey police that Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s pick as defense secretary, took her phone, blocked her from leaving the hotel room and sexually assaulted her, according to a recently released police report.
On Wednesday evening, Monterey police released a 22-page report revealing graphic details of the 2017 assault claim filed against Hegseth, which did not result in any charges. The report reveals two starkly different stories about what happened during a sexual encounter in his hotel room while the two attended a Republican women’s conference in the city in October 2017.
The woman, referred to as Jane Doe in the report, claimed that she repeatedly told Hegseth “no” during the alleged assault, and that he ejaculated on her stomach and told her to “clean it up” – an incident that according to left her behind. her having nightmares, according to the report.
Hegseth told police that the pair had consensual intercourse and that he made multiple attempts to ensure she felt comfortable during the encounter, the report said.
Read more: Who is Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host Trump nominated for Secretary of Defense?
His attorney has said he has reached a confidential settlement agreement with his sex abuse accuser for an undisclosed amount.
Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing since the allegation was revealed last week, and the Trump transition continues to publicly support his nomination.
The recently released report raises even more questions about what was already shaping up to be a contentious confirmation process for Hegseth’s nomination as US Secretary of Defense. Hegseth, 44, is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has been a Fox News host since 2017 and a contributor since 2014.
Hegseth was a keynote speaker at the 2017 Republican Women’s Conference, hosted at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa.
According to the police report, both Doe and Hegseth told officers they went with a group to the hotel bar after Hegseth’s speech and an afterparty in a hotel suite.
Doe told police that she informed Hegseth that she felt uncomfortable when he touched her knee at the bar and declined his offer to return to his hotel room. The woman also reported seeing Hegseth acting inappropriately toward women at the conference, rubbing their legs and giving off a “creeper” vibe, the report said.
The report contains conflicting information about how drunk each of them was. Doe had trouble remembering some of the evening’s events and later told a nurse during a sexual assault exam that she thought something might have been slipped into her drink, the report said.
Doe recalled trying to leave Hegseth’s hotel room and being physically blocked. She also recalled Hegseth wearing dog tags, ejaculating on her stomach and telling her to “clean it up.” And she remembered saying “no” many times, according to the report.
Hegseth remembered a very different series of events.
He told police that Doe led him to his hotel room, where things transpired between the two of them, the report said. He told police that there was ‘always’ a conversation and ‘always’ consensual contact between himself and Doe.
Hegseth recalled that Doe showed early signs of remorse after the incident and said she would tell her husband that she had fallen asleep on a couch in another hotel room, the report said.
Four days after the encounter, on October 12, Doe went to a hospital to request a sexual assault forensic exam and brought with her the clothing she wore during the alleged assault.
Doe reported experiencing memory loss and nightmares in the aftermath of the sexual encounter, the report said. A co-worker of hers also told officers that she had very little energy and would burst into tears out of nowhere after the incident, the report said.
Hegseth is a graduate of Princeton University and a graduate of Harvard University. For his military service he was awarded two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge. He left the military after President Biden was elected, saying he was ordered off guard duty at the inauguration after top brass called him an extremist and a “white nationalist.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
