A police report from 2017, released this week via a freedom of information request, casts significant doubt [1] on a sexual assault allegation made against Pete Hegseth, President-Elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee.
The accuser, whose identity is redacted, claimed that Hegseth raped her during a Republican women’s conference held at a hotel in Monterey, California, that year.
According to the accuser, the incident occurred after conference organizers attended the hotel bar following an after-party.
However, the police report raises questions about the validity of the accuser’s claim, citing eyewitness accounts and hotel surveillance footage suggesting that the interaction between Hegseth and the accuser may have been consensual.
The report indicates that the accuser was allegedly trying to conceal the encounter from her husband, who was also staying at the hotel with their children.
The accuser suggested that she believed something may have been slipped into her drink, as she could not remember much of the evening.
However, surveillance footage obtained by law enforcement painted a different picture, showing the accuser appearing coherent both before and after the alleged incident.
In the footage, she was seen walking arm-in-arm with Hegseth, smiling and engaging in physical contact.
Eyewitnesses further complicated the accuser’s narrative. One witness stated she observed the accuser flirting with Hegseth earlier in the evening.
Additionally, a hotel worker reported seeing the accuser leading Hegseth toward his hotel room shortly before the alleged assault, noting that the accuser appeared sober while Hegseth appeared “very intoxicated.”
The police report also revealed statements made by the accuser’s husband. After she returned to their room, he reported that she said she “must have fallen asleep somewhere,” which matched the account Hegseth gave to police.
A newly released police report detailed a 2017 alleged sexual assault by Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick. “The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely clear, and that’s where I’m going to leave it,” Hegseth said. pic.twitter.com/2drvimh1T8 [2]
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) November 22, 2024 [3]
Hegseth told authorities that the accuser had indicated she planned to tell her husband she had fallen asleep in someone else’s room.
Key revelations from the police report included:
- The accuser could not recall how she ended up in Hegseth’s hotel room but remembered specific details of the encounter, including Hegseth allegedly blocking the door and her saying “no” repeatedly.
- No evidence of rape was found, according to the police report.
- Earlier in the day, the accuser had sent text messages to her husband about Hegseth, mentioning that women at the conference were “freaking drooling over him” and that “He talks pretty tho.” As the evening wore on, she stopped responding to her husband’s texts.
- After the alleged incident, a hotel worker reported hearing complaints from two separate guests about a loud disturbance by the pool involving a couple. The worker stated that the accuser apologized for Hegseth’s actions and guided him away from the pool area.
- Surveillance footage from the hotel showed the accuser and Hegseth leaving the bar together at approximately 1:15 a.m., with their arms locked as they headed toward the pool area.
- An eyewitness described the accuser as “flirting” with Hegseth, and another stated that she seemed “normal” the next morning.
- Hegseth told police that while he was “buzzed,” he was not overly intoxicated, and he did not remember being reprimanded by the hotel staff for being loud by the pool.
Hegseth, in his interview with police, confirmed that the interaction with the accuser was consensual.
He explained that while both he and the accuser had moments where they hesitated, saying, “we shouldn’t do this,” they continued their interaction. He also confirmed that the accuser asked if he had a condom.
Additionally, the accuser later told police that she regretted the encounter and planned to tell her husband that she had fallen asleep on a couch in someone else’s room—an account that matched her husband’s statement to the police.
Megyn Kelly, a former attorney and Fox News anchor, weighed in on the allegations after reading the police report.
On her podcast, Kelly remarked, “This smells like utter bullshit,” adding, “All of this sounds much more consistent with a woman who had a booty call.”
“This allegation should not tank his nomination…But the whole thing is just so gross.”@MegynKelly [4] breaks down exactly what the Pete Hegseth police report shows, the holes in the accuser’s story, and the confirmation fight ahead.
Watch and subscribe:https://t.co/YJPxz5H1XL [5] pic.twitter.com/Knr6TW6RiR [6]
— The Megyn Kelly Show (@MegynKellyShow) November 22, 2024 [7]
Breitbart News reached out to Hegseth’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, who maintained that the accuser was the aggressor in the situation.
Parlatore told the outlet in a phone interview on November 16, “She took advantage of him. She led him. She was, by all accounts, both video and eyewitness, sober. He was drunk. She grabbed him. She took him to his room. She’s walking arm-in-arm with him. And really putting it on, and she gets him into his room. And then the police, honestly, when they looked at it, even though she was the one that reported it, when they looked at the video, they considered charging her.”
The release of this police report raises serious questions about the credibility of the sexual assault allegation against Hegseth, as the evidence available appears to contradict the accuser’s account of events.