SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — A girl informed police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth after he took her telephone, blocked the door to a California lodge room and refused to let her depart, in line with an in depth investigative report made public late Wednesday.
Hegseth, a Fox Information character and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be protection secretary, informed police on the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report stated.
Information of the allegations surfaced final week when native officers launched a quick assertion confirming {that a} lady had accused Hegseth of sexual assault in October 2017 after he had spoken at a Republican ladies’s occasion in Monterey.
Hegseth’s lawyer didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark early Thursday. He has stated Hegseth paid the lady in 2023 to go off the specter of a baseless lawsuit.
The 22-page police report was launched in response to a public information request and provides the primary detailed account of what the lady alleged to have transpired — one that’s at odds with Hegseth’s model of occasions. The report cited police interviews with the alleged sufferer, a nurse who handled her, a lodge staffer, one other lady on the occasion and Hegseth.
The girl’s identify was not launched, and The Related Press doesn’t sometimes identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually assaulted.
A spokeswoman for the Trump transition stated early Thursday that the “report corroborates what Mr. Hegseth’s attorneys have stated all alongside: the incident was totally investigated and no costs have been filed as a result of police discovered the allegations to be false.”
The report doesn’t say that police discovered the allegations have been false. Police advisable the case report be forwarded to the Monterey County District Lawyer’s Workplace for overview.
Investigators have been first alerted to the alleged assault, the report stated, by a nurse who referred to as them after a affected person requested a sexual assault examination. The affected person informed medical personnel she believed she was assaulted 5 days earlier however couldn’t keep in mind a lot about what had occurred. She reported one thing might have been slipped into her drink earlier than ending up within the lodge room the place she stated the assault occurred.
Police collected the unwashed gown and underwear she had worn that evening, the report stated.
The girl’s associate, who was staying on the lodge along with her, informed police that he was apprehensive about her that evening after she didn’t come again to their room. At 2 a.m., he went to the lodge bar, however she wasn’t there. She made it again a number of hours later, apologizing that she “should have fallen asleep.” Just a few days later, she informed him she had been sexually assaulted.
The girl, who helped arrange the California Federation of Republican ladies gathering at which Hegseth spoke, informed police that she had witnessed the TV anchor appearing inappropriately all through the evening and noticed him stroking a number of ladies’s thighs. She texted a buddy that Hegseth was giving off a “creeper” vibe, in line with the report.
After the occasion, the lady and others attended an afterparty in a lodge suite the place she stated she confronted Hegseth, telling him that she “didn’t recognize how he handled ladies,” the report states.
A bunch of individuals, together with Hegseth and the lady, decamped for the lodge’s bar. That is when “issues obtained fuzzy,” the lady informed police.
She remembered having a drink on the bar with Hegseth and others, the police report states. She additionally informed police that she argued with Hegseth close to the lodge pool, an account that’s supported by a lodge staffer who was despatched to deal with the disturbance and spoke to police, in line with the report.
Quickly, she informed police, she was inside a lodge room with Hegseth, who took her telephone and blocked the door together with his physique in order that she couldn’t depart, in line with the report. She additionally informed police she remembered “saying ‘no’ rather a lot,” the report stated.
Her subsequent reminiscence was laying on a sofa or mattress with Hegseth hovering over her bare-chested, his canine tags dangling over her, the report states. Hegseth served within the Nationwide Guard, rising to the rank of main.
After Hegseth completed, she recalled him asking if she was “OK,” the report states. She informed police she didn’t recall how she obtained again to her personal lodge room and had since suffered from nightmares and reminiscence loss.
On the time of the alleged assault in 2017, Hegseth, now 44, was going via a divorce together with his second spouse, with whom he has three kids. She filed for divorce after he had a baby with a Fox Information producer who’s now his spouse, in line with courtroom information and social media posts by Hegseth. His first marriage led to 2009, additionally after infidelity by Hegseth, in line with courtroom information.
Hegseth stated he attended an after celebration and drank beer however didn’t devour liquor, and acknowledged being “buzzed” however not drunk.
He stated he met the lady on the lodge bar, and he or she led him by the arm again to his lodge room, which stunned him as a result of he initially had no intention of getting intercourse along with her, the report stated.
Hegseth informed investigators that the sexual encounter that adopted was consensual, including that he explicitly requested greater than as soon as if she was comfy. Hegseth stated within the morning the lady “confirmed early indicators of remorse,” and he assured her that he wouldn’t inform anybody concerning the encounter.
Hegseth’s lawyer stated a cost was made to the lady as a part of a confidential settlement a number of years after the police investigation as a result of Hegseth was involved that she was ready to file a lawsuit that he feared may have resulted in him being fired from Fox Information, the place he was a well-liked host. The lawyer wouldn’t reveal the quantity of the cost.
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Slodysko reported from Washington and Linderman reported from Baltimore.
