Donald Trump’s secretary of defense nominee, Pete Hegseth, is having a hard time defending himself.
The Fox News star has been the subject of increased scrutiny after a police report from 2017 surfaced, documenting an instance in which Hegseth allegedly assaulted an attendee at a Republican women’s conference in Monterey, California.
Speaking to a crowd of reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday ahead of a meeting with senators regarding his confirmation, Hegseth minced words about the attack, failing to say that he hadn’t actually sexually assaulted anyone at the event.
“As far as the media is concerned, it’s very simple,” Hegseth said. “The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m gonna leave it.”
REPORTER: Did you sexually assault a woman in Monterey, California?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 21, 2024
PETE HEGSETH: I have -- ah -- as far as the media is concerned, it's very simple. The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared, and that's where I'm gonna leave it. pic.twitter.com/JovTk3kLyB
But specifying that he was “completely cleared” isn’t wholly accurate. The 22-page police report, published by Mediaite on Wednesday, does not mention that Hegseth was cleared. Instead, it recommends that the case be forwarded to local prosecutors. Ultimately, no charges were filed in the case.
In a statement to The Washington Post on Saturday, Hegseth’s attorney Tim Parlatore said that Hegseth had paid his accuser in exchange for her signing a nondisclosure agreement in order to stop her from filing a lawsuit and to protect his future at Fox News.
A friend of the victim reportedly shared details of the attack with Trump’s transition team in a memo last week, but the news apparently did not shake the MAGA leader’s confidence in his nominee.
“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 told Mediaite in a statement.
Meanwhile, Hegseth’s nomination may have already sunk. Reports from inside Trump’s transition team indicate that the forty-seventh president-elect is quietly assembling a list of alternatives to the white nationalist–connected conservative.
