Monterey, California – Pete Hegseth, the Army veteran, became a Fox News host chosen by newly elected President Donald Trump as Secretary of Defense During his second term, he was investigated for alleged sexual abuse in 2017, officials in Monterey, California confirmed.
In response to multiple public records requests to the city, including one from CBS News, officials released a public statement late Thursday evening about a 2017 police investigation into Hegseth. The statement from Monterey city officials and police provided few details about the case and said they would not make any other public statements related to the investigation.
The incident is said to have occurred sometime between one minute before midnight on October 7, 2017 and 7 a.m. on October 8, 2017 at 1 Old Golf Course Road, the location of the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel. Three days later, on October 12, 2024, a police report was filed with the Monterey Police Department.
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Police did not release the name or age of the alleged victim, but did describe the injuries as “bruises” and “right thigh.”
The statement said no weapons were involved.
News of the sexual misconduct allegation was revealed by Vanity Fair on Thursday when the magazine reported that Trump’s new chief of staff, Susie Wiles, had been briefed on Hegseth’s alleged sexual misconduct involving a woman, citing unnamed sources – one of whom reportedly said the incident took place in Monterey.
The accusation sparked a discussion between Wiles, Trump’s legal team and Hegseth, who described the accusation as a consensual encounter and a classic case of he said, she said, the magazine reported.
Timothy Parlatore, a former Trump lawyer who regularly represents Current and former members of the US military told Vanity Fair: “This allegation had already been investigated by the Monterey Police Department and they found no evidence to support it.”
Hegseth is one veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan with a handful of military medals, including two Bronze Stars, and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Princeton and Harvard.
As of 2019, Hegseth has been married to his third wife, Fox News producer Jennifer Rauchet. The two were married at Trump’s National Gold Club in Colts Neck, New Jersey.
Hegseth and his first wife, Meredith Schwarz, divorced in 2009. He and his second wife, Samantha Deering, divorced in 2017, the year he was investigated for alleged sexual abuse.
Disagreement over Hegseth’s qualifications
Following Trump’s announcement on Tuesday night that he would nominate Hegseth as his secretary of defense, many have wondered whether the 44-year-old co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekends” can handle managing the Defense Department, which has a budget of has $842 billion. , nearly three million employees and 750 military installations around the world.
“The Pentagon needs real reform, and they get a leader with the courage to make it happen,” Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Republican Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, said in a post on the social media platform. X. Waltz is a former Army Green Beret Colonel.
Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, who served in the Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Hegseth was not “remotely qualified” to be defense secretary.
“The SecDef [secretary of defense] makes life-and-death decisions every day that impact more than 2 million troops around the world. This is not an entry-level job for a TV commentator,” Crow said on X. “The Senate must do its job and reject this nomination.”
Hegseth’s controversial views
Hegseth is a longtime conservative and staunch Trump ally who has spoken about the changes Trump should make at the Pentagon.
He said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, should be fired for “pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians.”
And he believes women should not be allowed to compete in the U.S. military, a point he reiterated last week in an interview with “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast.
Ahead of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, The Associated Press reported that 12 members of the U.S. National Guard were barred from helping secure the event after investigations by the U.S. military and the FBI. The members made extremist statements in messages or text messages or had ties to right-wing militias.
Hegseth revealed during his interview with Shawn Ryan, a former Navy SEAL, that he was one of the National Guard members excluded from securing the inauguration.
James LaPorta
