President Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth — who was accused of raping a woman in 2017 and later reached a settlement with the women — physically blocked her from leaving his California hotel room after taking her phone, a police report alleges. The document was first obtained by CNN.
Mr. Hegseth was chosen as Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon just days after the 2024 election, and was seen as a shock pick by many observers at Washington. The decorated Army combat veteran most recently worked as an on-air host for Fox News.
Trump’s nominee was first accused of rape in October 2017 by a woman identified only as Jane Doe in the police report. The incident allegedly occurred at a Monterey, California hotel during a conference where the two met for the first time.
The assault allegedly occurred in the early morning hours of October 8. Four days later, on October 12, Ms. Doe went to a Kaiser Permanente hospital where she asked to be examined for possible sexual abuse, given that she did not fully remember the encounter with Mr. Hegseth in his hotel room. The nurse who examined Ms. Doe then contacted the Monterey police department.
“HEGSETH and DOE were at the hotel attending the Republican Woman’s Convention. DOE was at an after party event in the presidential suite around 2330 hours on 10/7/17,” the police report states. “DOE had been drinking and the events were blurred and lacked specifics and a fluid sequence of events. DOE remembers HEGSETH preventing her from leaving and somehow ended up on top of her. DOE remembers HEGSETH ejaculating on her stomach.” Ms. Doe also claimed that Mr. Hegseth had taken her phone before assaulting her.
According to the report, Ms. Doe texted a friend the night before the assault where she was drinking with Mr. Hegseth and other conference attendees. In those text messages, which are included in the report, Ms. Doe describes Mr. Hegseth both as a “creeper.”
Ms. Doe later got into an argument with Mr. Hegseth about his behavior at the bar, and that he followed her after the argument concluded. The next memory Ms. Doe had was coming to in a random hotel room with Mr. Hegseth, where he took her phone and blocked her from leaving. “JANE DOE remembered saying ‘no’ a lot,” the police reported stated.
Around 1:30 AM on October 8, an unnamed hotel employee who was later interviewed by police said he or she responded to guest noise complaints coming from Mr. Hegseth’s room. The then-Fox News host told the employee that he “he had freedom of speech” to argue, the police report alleges.
Mr. Hegseth has denied all wrongdoing and argued that the encounter was consensual. After he was accused, he reached a settlement — the details of which are not known — with the woman.
Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon is just one of many men poised to serve in the cabinet who have been accused of sexual assault or other sex-related indiscretions. Famously, Trump himself has been found liable for sexual abuse against writer E. Jean Carroll by a New York jury, and has been accused by other women.
Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Congressman Matt Gaetz, has been embroiled for years in questions about his alleged sexual encounter with a minor and allegations that he paid to transport her across state lines for the purpose of having sex with her. The House Ethics Committee will deliberate about releasing their report into Mr. Gaetz in early December.
The president-elect’s nominee to serve as secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has also been accused of groping a young woman who was working as a nanny for his family in the 1990s. The Washington Post reported in July that Mr. Kennedy had texted the woman to apologize for the incident.
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