Police report reveals new details from sexual assault allegation against Trump’s defense secretary nominee
CNN
By Casey Tolan, Scott Glover and Sara Murray, CNN
(CNN) — A California woman told police that Trump Cabinet pick Pete Hegseth physically blocked her from leaving a hotel room, took her phone, and then sexually assaulted her even though she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot,” a police report obtained by CNN shows.
The 22-page report, released by the city attorney’s office of Monterey, California, on Wednesday night in response to a public records request, lays out the competing narratives of what happened in new detail – including conflicting accounts of how intoxicated Hegseth and the woman were, and descriptions of video surveillance showing some of their movements that night.
Hegseth, who President-elect Donald Trump has named as his pick for secretary of defense, told police that their encounter was consensual, and that he had repeatedly made sure the woman “was comfortable with what was going on between the two of them.”
Seven years after the alleged assault, questions over what happened that night could jeopardize Hegseth’s nomination and seem likely to be central in his upcoming confirmation hearing.
Hegseth was not charged with a crime in connection with the allegation. His attorney has acknowledged that Hegseth later entered into a settlement agreement with his accuser that included an undisclosed monetary payment and a confidentiality clause. Though Hegseth insisted the encounter was consensual, the lawyer said he was fearful that the woman was poised to make an allegation against him during the #MeToo movement that might have cost him his job as a Fox News host.
“This police report confirms what I’ve said all along, that the incident was fully investigated, and police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges were filed,” Timothy Parlatore, Hegseth’s attorney, told CNN on Wednesday night – although the report does not say that police found the allegations to be false. Parlatore is a CNN legal commentator.
In a statement, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, also claimed that “police found the allegations to be false” and called Hegseth “a highly-respected Combat Veteran who will honorably serve our country when he is confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense, just like he honorably served our country on the battlefield in uniform.”
The woman who accused Hegseth of assault broke into tears when asked about the matter by CNN reporters last week and declined to comment.
According to the newly released police report, the alleged assault took place in the early morning hours of October 8, 2017, after Hegseth spoke at a convention of the California Federation of Republican Women at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa the night before.
An attorney for the city of Monterey, which had previously shared only cursory details about its investigation, wrote that the city was releasing a redacted version of the police report because it had previously released a copy to Hegseth in 2021.
The report, which identifies the accuser as “Jane Doe,” summarizes police interviews with Doe, Hegseth, conference attendees and a hotel employee, and includes descriptions of video footage from the hotel viewed by police.
The records released do not include copies of the video footage, or a memorandum from the Monterey County district attorney’s office that could explain in more detail why Hegseth was never charged.
In a statement released Thursday, Monterey County DA Jeannine Pacioni said that her office declined to file charges against Hegseth in January 2018 because “no charges were supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” She declined to comment further.
The police report’s description of Doe’s account of the night mirrors some of the details laid out in a memo written by a friend of Doe and delivered to the Trump transition team last week, which sparked consternation among Trump’s advisers, who were caught off guard by the allegation.
Both Doe and Hegseth, as well as several attendees interviewed by police, told officers that the two of them went with a group to the hotel bar, Knuckles, after the speech and an afterparty in a hotel suite.
There, a conference attendee told police that Hegseth had touched her knee and invited her to come to his hotel room. The attendee said she declined the invitation and “gained the attention” of Doe and had her become what the report describes as a “crotch blocker” – hoping that Doe’s “presence would detour Hegseth’s attempt to have sex” with her. That attendee later left the bar and said Doe didn’t appear intoxicated “when she last had contact with” her.
Another conference attendee told police that she saw what she described as Doe and another woman flirting with Hegseth at the bar. At the time, Doe was coherent and “did not seem intoxicated to a point where she would not be able to care for her own safety,” the attendee said.
Doe told officers that she believed Hegseth was acting inappropriately with the other women during the conference, and texted someone that he “was giving off a ‘creeper’ vibe,” according to the report. Doe later told a hospital nurse that she “was not sure, but believes that something may have been slipped into her drink, as she cannot remember most of the night’s events,” and the nurse passed that on to police, the report states. The report also notes Doe said she had been drinking “much more than normal” that day.
Officers reviewed surveillance video from the hotel timestamped about 1:15 a.m. that showed Doe and Hegseth “walking together, with arms locked together” leaving the bar and heading toward the hotel pool, with Doe smiling.
Doe told police she remembered walking out of the bar and arguing with Hegseth by the pool, where the two argued about his treatment of women at the conference and Hegseth told her he was “a nice guy.” Police also interviewed a hotel employee, who responded to guest complaints about the argument around 1:30 a.m. Hegseth told the employee “that he had freedom of speech,” before he and Doe left, the employee remembered. The employee said that Hegseth appeared to be heavily intoxicated, while Doe did not, according to the report.
Doe told police that her next memory after the argument was being in a hotel room with Hegseth. She told officers that Hegseth “took her phone from her hands.” Then, she said, she “tried to leave the room, but Hegseth blocked the door with his body.” She said she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot,” but did not remember much else, according to the report.
Next, she said, she remembered Hegseth over her on a bed or couch, with his dog tags “hovering over her face.” She later told the hospital nurse that she “could not remember whether or not any sexual penetration occurred, but believes that she was sexually assaulted at that time,” the nurse told police.
Doe told police that she remembered Hegseth ejaculating onto her stomach before throwing a towel at her and asking if she was OK. Doe told police she did not remember how she got back to her own hotel room, but remembered walking into her room and getting in bed.
Doe’s husband, who attended the conference with her, told police that he was worried when she didn’t come back to their hotel room earlier that night, and that she didn’t return until about 4 a.m.
Doe told officers that “the incident involving Hegseth did not dawn on” her until after she returned home. She went to a hospital and reported a sexual assault on October 12, where she underwent a rape kit exam and gave the clothes she was wearing on the night of the alleged assault to police. A nurse at the hospital first reported the alleged assault to authorities.
Hegseth, in contrast, told police that the encounter with Doe was consensual. He said that he was “buzzed” that night after drinking beer and remembered going back to his hotel room with Doe.
Hegseth said that Doe “sat down in the room and did not leave,” and that he thought it was “odd” that she stayed in his room, according to the report.
As the night progressed, Hegseth said he made sure Doe was “comfortable with what was going on between the two of them,” and that there was “‘always’ conversation and ‘always’ consensual contact.” The two of them had sexual intercourse, he said.
Hegseth said that Doe asked him if he had a condom, and he didn’t. He said he asked her if that was a problem, and she said it wasn’t, and he ejaculated on her body.
After they had sex, Hegseth said, he had a “very clear conversation” with Doe, who told him she would tell her husband she had “fallen asleep on a couch in someone else’s room.” He told police that she showed “early signs of regret,” but did not elaborate.
This story has been updated with additional reaction.
CNN’s Yahya Abou-Ghazala contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
