In 2017, a woman filed a sexual assault complaint against Pete Hegseth, then a Fox News host and now Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, according to a California police report. Hegseth has denied the allegations, stating to police that any interactions were consensual.
The Monterey Police Department referred the case to the Monterey County district attorney, which declined to file charges, citing insufficient evidence to meet the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Hegseth, addressing reporters on Capitol Hill, said, “The matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared.”
The police report, released Wednesday following media inquiries, describes the complainant, identified as Jane Doe, attending a 2017 conference in Monterey, California, where Hegseth was a keynote speaker. Doe said she had been drinking and recalled leaving a bar with Hegseth but later found herself in an unfamiliar room where he blocked the door as she tried to leave. She remembered repeatedly saying “no” and later being on a couch or bed with Hegseth over her, his dog tags in her face.
Doe underwent a medical exam four days later, but the report did not include those findings. Notably, she described Hegseth as bare-chested but did not mention his prominent tattoos.
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