A woman told Monterey police that Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Defense secretary, took her phone, blocked her from leaving his hotel room and sexually assaulted her, according to a newly released police report.
The Monterey Police Department on Wednesday night released a 22-page report revealing graphic details in the October 2017 assault allegation filed against Hegseth, which did not result in any charges. The report shows two starkly different narratives about what unfolded during a sexual encounter in his hotel room while the two were attending a Republican women’s conference in the city.
The woman, who is 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 she said left her with nightmares, according to the report.
Hegseth told police that the pair had consensual intercourse and that he made multiple attempts to ensure she was comfortable during the encounter, according to the report. He has denied any wrongdoing, and the Trump transition team has continued to publicly support his nomination as Pentagon chief.
Hegseth addressed the situation in a brief comment to reporters at the Capitol on Thursday: “The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m going to leave it,” he said.
The police report raises more questions about what was already gearing up to be a controversial confirmation process for the Trump nominee. Hegseth, 44, is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was a Fox News host since 2017 and a contributor since 2014. His employment with the network ended the day his nomination was announced.
The alleged assault occurred at the California Federation of Republican Women‘s conference at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa, where Hegseth was a keynote speaker.
According to the police report, both Doe and Hegseth told officers that the two of them went with a group to the hotel bar after Hegseth’s speech and an after-party in a hotel suite.
While they were drinking at the bar, Hegseth allegedly put his hand on another woman’s knee. She told police that she made it clear it was “not acceptable,” but he still invited her to his room. She declined, according to the report.
The woman tried to get Doe’s attention so she could act as a “crotch blocker” to deter Hegseth’s sexual advances, according to the report.
Doe told police that she observed Hegseth acting inappropriately toward women at the conference, rubbing their legs and giving off a “creeper” vibe.
The police report contains conflicting information over how intoxicated Doe and Hegseth were that night. Doe had difficulty remembering some of the night’s events and, during a sexual assault exam, later told a nurse that she believed something might have been slipped into her drink, according to the report.
Doe told police that her memory “got fuzzy” while she was at the bar.
After leaving the bar, Doe told police she confronted Hegseth near the hotel pool about his behavior with women at the conference. He responded that he was a “nice guy,” according to the report.
An employee who had been working that night told an investigator that hotel guests had called to complain about two people causing a disturbance by the swimming pool about 1:30 a.m. The employee said when he approached Hegseth and a woman, Hegseth cursed at him and said that he “had freedom of speech.” The woman intervened and said that “they were Republicans and apologized for Hegseth’s actions,” the report states.
The staffer said the woman was “standing on her own and very coherent,” while Hegseth was “very intoxicated,” according to the report.
Doe recalled being in a hotel room alone with Hegseth. She told police she tried to leave the room, but Hegseth blocked the door. She remembered saying “no” a lot, she told police.
Her next memory, she told police, was of herself lying on a bed or couch with Hegseth’s dog tags hovering over her face. She said he ejaculated on her stomach, threw a towel at her and said to “clean it up” before asking her whether she was OK, according to the report.
Hegseth recalled a very different sequence of events.
He told police that Doe led him to his hotel room, where things progressed between the two of them, according to the report. There was “always” conversation and “always” consensual contact between himself and Doe, he told police.
Hegseth recalled Doe displaying “early signs of regret” after the incident and that she said she would tell her husband she fell asleep on a couch in another hotel room, according to the report.
Four days after the encounter, on Oct. 12, Doe went to a hospital to request a sexual assault forensic exam and brought with her the unwashed dress and panties that she was wearing during the alleged assault.
Doe reported experiencing memory loss and nightmares in the aftermath of the sexual encounter, according to the report. An associate of hers also told officers that she had very little energy and would burst into tears out of the blue after the incident, according to the report.
The police document reinforces portions of a memo that a friend of Doe sent to Trump’s transition team last week in which she alleged Hegseth raped the 30-year-old conservative group staffer during the conference, the Washington Post reported.
The newspaper, which obtained a copy of the memo, reported that Doe had tried to step into the conversation between Hegseth and others after two other women attending the conference complained that he was being “pushy” about taking them back to his hotel room.
Hegseth is a graduate of Princeton University and has a graduate degree from Harvard University. He was decorated with two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge for his military service. He left the military after President Biden was elected, saying he’d been ordered to stand down from guard duty at the inauguration after top brass dubbed him an extremist and “white nationalist.”
Nam-Yong Horn, former president of the California Federation of Republican Women, said in a statement on Facebook this week that she attended the 2017 event and described Hegseth’s behavior as “professional.”
