A girl advised police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth after he took her cellphone, blocked the door to a California resort room and refused to let her go away, in keeping with an in depth investigative report made public late Wednesday.
Hegseth, a Fox News character and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be protection secretary, advised police on the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report stated.
News of the allegations surfaced final week when native officers launched a quick assertion confirming {that a} girl had accused Hegseth of sexual assault in October 2017 after he had spoken at a Republican girls’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 data request and affords 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 resort staffer and one other girl on the occasion and Hegseth.
The girl’s title was not launched, and The Associated Press doesn’t usually title 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 said all along: the incident was fully investigated and no charges were filed because police found the allegations to be false.”
The report does not say that police found the allegations were false. Police recommended the case report be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review.
Investigators were first alerted to the alleged assault, the report said, by a nurse who called them after a patient requested a sexual assault exam. The patient told medical personnel she believed she was assaulted five days earlier but couldn’t remember much about what had happened. She reported something may have been slipped into her drink before ending up in the hotel room where she said the assault occurred.
Police collected the unwashed dress and underwear she had worn that night, the report said.
The woman’s partner, who was staying at the hotel with her, told police that he was worried about her that night after she didn’t come back to their room. At 2 a.m., he went to the hotel bar, but she wasn’t there. She made it back a few hours later, apologizing that she “must have fallen asleep.” A couple of days later, she advised him she had been sexually assaulted.
The girl, who helped set up the California Federation of Republican girls gathering at which Hegseth spoke, advised police that she had witnessed the TV anchor appearing inappropriately all through the night time and noticed him stroking a number of girls’s thighs. She texted a pal that Hegseth was giving off a “creeper” vibe, in keeping with the report.
After the occasion, the lady and others attended an afterparty in a resort suite the place she stated she confronted Hegseth, telling him that she “did not appreciate how he treated women,” the report states.
A gaggle of individuals, together with Hegseth and the lady, decamped for the resort’s bar. That’s when “things got fuzzy,” the lady advised police.
She remembered having a drink on the bar with Hegseth and others, the police report states. She additionally advised police that she argued with Hegseth close to the resort pool, an account that’s supported by a resort staffer who was despatched to deal with the disturbance and spoke to police, in keeping with the report.
Soon, she advised police, she was inside a resort room with Hegseth, who took her cellphone and blocked the door along with his physique in order that she couldn’t go away, in keeping with the report. She additionally advised police she remembered “saying ‘no’ 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 National Guard, rising to the rank of main.
After Hegseth completed, she recalled him asking if she was “OK,” the report states. She advised police she didn’t recall how she obtained again to her personal resort room and had since suffered from nightmares and reminiscence loss.
At the time of the alleged assault in 2017, Hegseth, now 44, was going by way of a divorce along with his second spouse, with whom he has three kids. She filed for divorce after he had a toddler with a Fox News producer who’s now his spouse, in keeping with courtroom data and social media posts by Hegseth. His first marriage resulted in 2009, additionally after infidelity by Hegseth, in keeping with courtroom data.
Hegseth stated he attended an after occasion and drank beer however didn’t devour liquor, and acknowledged being “buzzed” however not drunk.
He stated he met the lady on the resort bar, and she or he led him by the arm again to his resort room, which stunned him as a result of he initially had no intention of getting intercourse along with her, the report stated.
Hegseth advised investigators that the sexual encounter that adopted was consensual, including that he explicitly requested greater than as soon as if she was snug. Hegseth stated within the morning the lady “showed early signs of regret,” and he assured her that he wouldn’t inform anybody concerning the encounter.
Hegseth’s legal professional stated a cost was made to the lady as a part of a confidential settlement a couple of years after the police investigation as a result of Hegseth was involved that she was ready to file a lawsuit that he feared might have resulted in him being fired from Fox News, the place he was a preferred host. The legal professional wouldn’t reveal the quantity of the cost.
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Slodysko reported from Washington and Linderman reported from Baltimore.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pete-hegseth-ap-fox-news-donald-trump-monterey-b2651060.html