Washington — Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, met with senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday as new details emerged about an alleged sexual assault that took place in 2017.
Hegseth was accompanied in his meetings by Vice President-elect JD Vance, an Ohio senator, as they seek to secure support among Republican senators for the former Fox News host’s expected nomination. Trump selected the 44-year-old Army veteran — who served in Iraq and Afghanistan — last week, citing his military experience and calling him a “Warrior for the Troops.”
Ahead of the meetings, the release of a detailed police report late Wednesday drew increased attention to the defense secretary pick, building upon information unearthed about an investigation into Hegseth for an alleged sexual assault in 2017. The report included the first detailed accounts of the incident from the unnamed woman, Hegseth and others. Hegseth denies the allegation and characterized the incident as a consensual encounter.
Hegseth and Vance have met with Sens. Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Marco Rubio of Florida. Rubio was selected by Trump to serve as secretary of state but could vote on Hegseth’s nomination if he is still in the Senate should it takes place.
Blackburn said she had a “great meeting” with Hegseth, noting that he is a Tennessean whom “we look forward to supporting.”
Hagerty likened the allegations against Hegseth to those made against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Kavanaugh was accused of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford when he was in high school in the 1980s. He vehemently denied the claims, and none of the people who attended the gathering where the alleged incident happened could corroborate Ford’s allegations.
“It’s a disgrace that those allegations are nothing but what you said, allegations that are he-said she-said,” he told reporters. “This is a case that has been dismissed. This is just dredging up something, try to smear and discredit a candidate. It reminds me of what happened to Brett Kavanaugh. It’s a disgrace.”
The Monterey Police Department forwarded its report about the alleged assault to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review back in 2017. Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni said Thursday that in January 2018 her office “declined to file charges” as none were “supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the Republican conference chair, praised Hegseth as a “strong” candidate to lead the Pentagon. Barrasso will become the second highest-ranking Senate Republican in the next Congress after he was selected to serve as majority whip.
“We had an excellent discussion about the need for America’s military to remain the best in the world. That means taking care of our service members, equipping them with the latest technology, and focusing on making our military the most lethal force on the planet,” he said in a statement. “Pete pledged that the Pentagon will focus on strength and hard power — not the current administration’s woke political agenda.”
The allegations against Hegseth were revealed last week when officials in Monterey, California, released a public statement disclosing an incident that occurred the night of Oct. 7, 2017, and into the morning of Oct. 8, 2017, at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel. An incident report was filed with the Monterey Police Department five days later.
That police report, which was released Wednesday to CBS News and other outlets in response to public records requests, provided more details about the incident between Hegseth and the unidentified woman. The alleged victim told police that Hegseth sexually assaulted her after a Republican women’s event at the hotel. She said he took her phone, blocked the door to a hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to the investigative report.
The report said law enforcement was first notified of the alleged assault by a nurse informing police that a patient requested a sexual assault exam. Police also spoke with a hotel staffer and another woman who was at the event with Hegseth.
The alleged victim told the nurse that she had been drinking with coworkers but thinks something may have been slipped into her drink because she could not remember many of the night’s events. She recalled being in a coworker’s hotel room, laying on either a couch or bed, and a bare-chested Hegseth hovering over her with his dog tags hanging over her face. According to the report, she said that Hegseth ejaculated on her stomach and then asked, “Are you OK?”
The unidentified woman said her last memory was of walking into her hotel room, though she told police she did not remember how she got back to it, the report states.
Hegseth also spoke with police and claimed the alleged victim led him to his room. He said the interaction was consensual and he checked multiple times to make sure the woman was comfortable with what was happening, according to the report.
Timothy Parlatore, Hegseth’s lawyer, said “This police report confirms what I’ve said all along. That the incident was fully investigated and the police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges were filed.”
While no charges were filed, neither Monterey police nor city officials have publicly said the allegations were found to be false.
Parlatore had told CBS News on Monday that his client paid a confidential financial settlement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault because he was concerned Fox News would fire him because of the allegation.
In addition to the allegations against Hegseth, his selection has drawn criticism due to his lack of high-level national security experience. The Defense Department is the largest federal agency, with more than 3 million civilian and military employees and a budget of more than $800 billion. He’s also drawn criticism for his stance that women should not be in combat roles in the U.S. military.
The meetings come a day after former Rep. Matt Gaetz also met with GOP senators before withdrawing his name from consideration for attorney general. Gaetz said in a post on social media that it had become clear that his candidacy “was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
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