A police report reveals assault charges against Hegseth

Martha Mendoza, Brian Słodysko and Juliet Linderman
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Santa Cruz, California. In 2017, a woman told police that Pete Hegseth sexually assaulted her after he took her phone, locked the door to a California hotel room and wouldn’t let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report made public late Wednesday.

The report shows that Hegseth, a Fox News personality and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, told police at the time that the meeting was consensual and denied any impropriety.

News of the allegations broke last week when local officials released a brief statement confirming that a woman had accused Hegseth of sexual assault in October 2017 after he spoke at a Republican women’s event in Monterey.

Hegseth’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Thursday. He said Hegseth paid the woman in 2023 to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit.

The 22-page police report was released in response to a public information request and provides the first detailed description of what she says took place, which contradicts Hegseth’s version of events. The report cited police interviews with the alleged victim, the nurse who treated her, a hotel employee, another woman at the event and Hegseth.

The woman’s name has not been released, and The Associated Press does not typically report the names of people who say they have been victims of sexual assault.

A Trump transition spokeswoman said early Thursday that “the report confirms what Mr. Hegseth’s lawyers have argued all along: The incident was thoroughly investigated and no charges were filed because police determined the allegations were false.”

The report does not indicate that the police found the allegations false. Police recommended that the case report be sent to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review.

According to the report, investigators were first alerted to the alleged assault by a nurse who called them after a patient asked for a sexual assault exam. The patient told medical staff that she believed she had been attacked five days earlier, but had little memory of what had happened. She testified that something may have been slipped into her drink before she got to the hotel room where she claims the assault occurred.

The report said police collected the unwashed dress and underwear she was wearing that night.

The woman’s partner, who was staying with her at the hotel, told police he was worried about her that night when she did not return to their room. At 2 a.m. he went to the hotel bar, but she wasn’t there. She returned a few hours later, apologizing that she “must have fallen asleep.” A few days later, she told him that she had experienced sexual violence.

A woman who helped organize the California Federation of Republican Women’s meeting at which Hegseth spoke told police she witnessed the TV host’s inappropriate behavior throughout the night and saw him caressing the thighs of multiple women. The report states that she texted a friend that Hegseth had a “scary” vibe.

After the event, the woman and others attended an afterparty in a hotel suite, during which she said she confronted Hegseth, telling him that he “didn’t appreciate the way he treated women,” the report said.

A group of people, including Hegseth and a woman, went to the hotel bar. That’s when “the situation became unclear,” the woman told police.

The police report stated that she remembered having drinks at a bar with Hegseth and others. She also told police that she and Hegseth had an argument near the hotel pool, an account corroborated by a hotel employee who was dispatched to deal with the disturbance and spoke to police, according to the report.

The report says she soon told police she was in the hotel room with Hegseth, who took her phone and blocked the door with his body, preventing her from leaving. She also told police she remembered “she said ‘no’ often,” the report said.

According to the report, her next memory was of lying on a couch or bed with Hegseth hovering over her bare chest and her dog tags hanging above her. Hegseth served in the National Guard, rising to the rank of major.

He remembers that when Hegseth finished, he asked if “everything was OK,” the report states. She told police she did not remember returning to her hotel room and had since suffered nightmares and memory loss.

At the time of the alleged assault in 2017, Hegseth, 44, was in the process of divorcing his second wife, with whom he has three children. Court records and Hegseth’s social media posts show that she filed for divorce after he had a child with the Fox News producer, who is now his wife. Court records show that his first marriage ended in 2009, also due to Hegseth’s infidelity.

Hegseth said he was at the after party and drank beer but not alcohol, and admitted he was “excited” but not drunk.

He said he met the woman at a hotel bar and she led him by the arm back to the hotel room, which surprised him because he initially had no intention of having sex with her, according to the report.

Hegseth told investigators that the sexual intercourse that occurred was consensual, adding that he explicitly asked on more than one occasion if she was comfortable. Hegseth said that in the morning the woman “showed the first signs of regret” and assured her that she would not tell anyone about the encounter.

Hegseth’s attorney said payments were made to the woman in a confidential settlement several years after the police investigation because Hegseth feared she was ready to file a lawsuit that he feared could result in him being fired from Fox News, where he was a popular host . The lawyer did not want to disclose the amount of the payment.

Słodysko reported from Washington and Linderman reported from Baltimore.