A police report detailing the sexual assault allegations made against Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host who is President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary, has been published by a media outlet.
The report, obtained by U.S. news and media outlet Mediaite, details the claims made against Hegseth regarding an alleged incident at a hotel following the California Federation of Republican Women convention in October 2017.
The woman alleged Hegseth sexually assaulted her after he prevented her from leaving a hotel room. Hegseth said the encounter was consensual. No charges were filed against him.
The City of Monterey had previously confirmed that the Monterey Police Department investigated the sexual assault claim against Hegseth and that he received a redacted version of the report in March 2021.
Newsweek has contacted Hegseth's attorney, Timothy Parlatore, and the Trump transition team for comment via email outside normal working hours.
In a statement to Mediaite after the site obtained the report, Parlatore said: "This police report confirms what I have said all along that the incident was fully investigated and police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges were filed."
Parlatore previously confirmed that Hegseth agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to the woman as part of a nondisclosure agreement over fears he might lose his job if the claims become public.
The allegations against Hegseth, who used to host Fox & Friends Weekend on Sundays, along with his lack of administrative experience are among the reasons that Trump's nomination of him for defense secretary has received bipartisan scrutiny.
Parlatore previously told Newsweek: "Although an allegation was made, it was fully investigated and Pete was cleared. This unfortunate episode should have zero impact on the confirmation process."
The 22-page report details the allegations from the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, against Hegseth after he gave a keynote speech at the Republican conference.
The incident involving Hegseth was reported to have occurred between in the early hours of October 8, 2017, at the Hyatt Hotel in Montgomery, where the convention was held.
A nurse said the woman came into the Kaiser Permanente clinic in Oakland, California, on October 12, 2017, to request a rape kit, believing she had been assaulted after someone possibly spiked her drink.
The woman told police she had been drinking with coworkers at the convention, including at a sports bar and at a party in the hotel's presidential suite on the night of October 7. She told police that she had drunk more alcohol than usual that day.
She said she had got into an argument with Hegseth that night near the hotel's pool area about his treatment of women at the conference. The woman said she observed Hegseth "acting inappropriately" with them at the conference, including rubbing their legs.
She told police that the next memory she had was when she was in an unknown hotel room with Hegseth, with no recollection of how she got there.
The woman remembered having her phone, and Hegseth was asking whom she was texting. Hegseth took her phone from her hands, she said. When the woman got up and tried to leave, Hegseth allegedly blocked the door with his body. She recalled saying "no" repeatedly during this time, according to the report.
"Jane Doe's next memory was when she was on a bed or a couch and Hegseth was over her," the police report says.
"Hegseth's dog tags were hovering over her face. Hegseth was bare-chested, but Jane Doe does not know if his shirt was completely off. Jane Doe did not notice any tattoos, scars, or marks on Hegseth's body. Jane Doe stated she had seen Hegseth fully nude during this incident."
The report adds: "The next memory Jane Doe had was when Hegseth ejaculated on her stomach. Hegseth threw a towel at her and asked her, 'Are you OK?'"
The woman said she had no memory of how she got back to her room and that the alleged incident involving Hegseth did not "dawn on her" until a few days later.
Police spoke with Hegseth as part of the investigation. He said he had been "buzzed" on the night in question but not intoxicated. He also did not recall having an argument with anyone by the pool area.
He said the encounter was consensual, but at times they both said "we shouldn't do this," because the woman was married. Hegseth said he made sure she was "comfortable with what was going on between the two of them," and asked if they should still have sex as he did not have a condom.
The next morning, Hegseth said the woman showed "early signs of regret" without elaborating. He said that she said she would tell her husband and that she had fallen asleep on a couch in someone else's room.
The police report said surveillance video showed Hegseth and the woman leaving the sports bar together with their arms locked at around 1:15 a.m.
Police said the footage shows Hegseth talking while the woman was smiling, and neither had an "unsteady gait."
Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard, serving in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantánamo Bay, according to The Associated Press. He would leave the service with the rank of major.
His appointment as defense secretary will need to be confirmed by the Senate next year in a simple majority vote. With the GOP controlling the upper chamber next year with a 53-47 seat majority, Hegseth cannot afford to have more than three Republican senators vote against his nomination.
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