Fox & Friends reporter Pete Hegseth in 2017, the year of the alleged assault.
Photo: Renee Jones Schneider/Minneapolis Star Tribune/Zuma Press/Alamy
Last week, Donald Trump announced that he had nominated Pete Hegseth, a Fox News commentator and Army National Guard officer, to serve as secretary of Defense in his incoming administration. Hegseth’s selection was immediately met with skepticism with critics pointing to his lack of traditional military-leadership experience as well as his public push for pardoning servicemembers accused of war crimes and against women serving in combat roles.
But in the days since his nomination, it’s emerged that the conservative TV host was accused of sexual assault many years prior. Though Trump appears to be standing by his nomination, the news added another bump to Hegseth’s already rocky path to confirmation. Here’s what we know so far.
Vanity Fair reported last week that the Trump transition team had received word that Hegseth had been accused of sexual misconduct back in 2017. A source told the outlet that Trump attorneys and his newly appointed chief of staff, Susie Wiles, asked Hegseth about the incident, which he characterized as a “he-said, she-said.”
The incident allegedly took place during the 2017 California Federation of Republican Women conference in Monterey, where Hegseth was in attendance. Per the Washington Post, the transition team received a four-page memo detailing an alleged assault by Hegseth of a 30-year-old female staffer for a conservative organization at the hotel, written by a friend of the victim in question. The friend claimed that the woman, whom she only identified as “Jane Doe,” attended the conference with her husband and children, and the woman has since signed a nondisclosure agreement with Hegseth. Adds the Post:
One of [the woman’s] responsibilities at the conference was to make sure Hegseth made it back to his room and left in time the next morning for the 90-minute drive to the airport, the memo said. At some point in the evening, the complaint alleged, Jane Doe received a text from two women at the bar who told her that “Hegseth was getting pushy about his interest in taking them upstairs to his room.” Jane Doe, who was nearby, came over and talked to those two women, and after they left, she “remembered sensing that Hegseth was irritated,” the memo said.
The woman allegedly couldn’t remember everything that happened after that:
According to the memo, Jane Doe “didn’t remember anything until she was in Hegseth’s hotel room and then stumbling to find her hotel room.” The memo said that her memory of six to nine hours “was very hazy,” and that her husband was searching for her and was relieved when she finally showed up. The following day, the woman returned home and “had a moment of hazy memory of being raped the night before, and had a panic attack,” the memo said. The woman then went to the emergency room, where she received a rape-kit examination that “was positive for semen,” the memo said. The woman gave county authorities a statement about what happened, according to the memo sent to the transition team.
In a statement, the City of Monterey confirmed that the local police department investigated an “alleged sexual assault” that occurred in 2017 between 11:59 p.m. on October 7 and 7:00 a.m. on October 8 at 1 Old Golf Course Road, the location of the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel. The city did not list the name or age of the alleged victim but noted that they sustained bruises on their right thigh. A report was completed days later on October 12. No charges were filed, and the woman’s statement has not been made public.
Hegseth has maintained that the 2017 encounter was consensual. Timothy Parlatore, Hegseth’s attorney, said in a statement to the Post that on the night in question, the Fox commentator was “visibly intoxicated but the Complainant was not, as she led him by the arm to his hotel room,” and that after they were inside the hotel room, she was “the aggressor in initiating sexual activity.” Parlatore said, with no provided evidence, that the police had concluded the woman was the “aggressor.”
Parlatore confirmed that Hegseth agreed to pay the woman as part of a nondisclosure agreement out of concern that the incident becoming public “would result in his immediate termination from Fox.” The amount of the sum was undisclosed.
Despite the alleged assault coming to light, Trump appears undeterred in his selection of Hegseth. The New York Times reports that Trump told aides that he intends to stand by Hegseth following the reports of the 2017 incident. “Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed. We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again,” incoming Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
However, there are reportedly concerns about the vetting, or lack thereof, of Hegseth prior to being nominated to Trump’s administration. One source told Vanity Fair, “He wasn’t vetted.” Another said to the Post, “There’s a lot of frustration around this. He hadn’t been properly vetted.”
In an interview on Meet the Press, Republican senator Markwayne Mullin was asked if the recent reports could impact Hegseth’s chances of being confirmed. “It could,” Mullin said.
He added, “He fits the role of secretary of Defense. I think he’s a good pick, but once again, as allegations come out, we’ll figure out if as the Senate moves forward with the advise and consent to the president of the United States and doing our constitutional duties, we’ll figure out if he can get confirmed or not.”
Since securing a second term, Trump has shown no signs of wavering in his more controversial Cabinet picks. CNN reports that the president-elect intends to move forward on his selection of former congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general despite a looming report from the House Committee on Ethics, which investigated claims that he had an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old, among other allegations. He has also publicly embraced Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his contentious nominee for Health and Human Services secretary.
This post has been updated.
