Trump’s defence secretary’s alleged sexual assault report released

MONTEREY: New details regarding an alleged sexual assault involving Donald Trump’s pick for Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth which occurred in 2017 were released on Wednesday, and illustrated conflicting narratives of the night’s events.

The incident allegedly occurred at the Hyatt hotel in Monterey, where the woman was drinking alcohol with her co-workers. Hegseth, who has been a Fox News host since 2017, denied the allegations of sexual assault, claiming the encounter was completely consensual.

His lawyer, Tim Parlatore, stated a payment had already been made to the woman as part of a confidential settlement years prior. The settlement was paid due to fears that the allegation could possible result in the Fox News host being fired. Parlatore stated that Hegseth “was falsely accused and my position is that he was the victim of blackmail.”

A 22-page report released on Wednesday details the encounter from multiple perspectives, including that of the alleged victim, who is identified as Jane Doe, Hegseth, and the various witnesses that saw the two together that evening.

DOE’S STATEMENTS

The investigation report published by the Monterey Police Department states that Doe was attending a republican women’s conference. After the conference, Doe approached Hegseth, informing him hat she did not “appreciate how he treated women.” She informed him that his actions with women at the conference were innapropriate, as he would allegedly “rub the women on their legs.”

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Hegseth allegedly responding by saying that he was a nice guy. The next memory she has is of being in an unknown room with Hegseth. Hegseth then reportedly took her phone and blocked the door as Doe attempted to leave. Doe then remembers Hegseth being over her bare-chested. She recalls seeing him fully nude during their encounter. She also remembers saying “no” a lot during the incident. Doe claims that Hegseth ejaculated on her stomach and told her to “clean it up.”

Doe went to the hospital four days later. She stated that she was diagnosed with bacterial vaginosis, which the officer writing the supplemental report stated can be caused by having a new sex partner or multiple sex partners. At a later date, Doe informed the officer that she remembered asking Hegseth if he had a condom when the incident occurred. She also stated that she has been suffering from memory loss and nightmares since the alleged assault.

WITNESS STATEMENTS

The officer found reports of a disturbance between two individuals near a pool. The night audit employee who attended to the disturbance, which was reported by two separate guests in building 4, told the officer that after contacting Hegseth and Doe, the former began to curse at him. He claimed that Hegseth was very intoxicated, while Doe was reportedly “standing on her own and was very coherent.”

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The officer also found surveillance footage that showed Doe and Hegseth walking steadily, and with their arms locked together. The two were talking and Doe could be seen smiling.

Another person who was at the bar with Doe, whose name had been redacted, told the officer that Doe and another woman were allegedly flirting with Hegseth. The woman who sat with Doe and Hegseth told the officer that she had declined Hegseth’s invitation to go to his hotel room, and that she used Doe as a “crotch blocker,” or to help detour his attempts to have sex with her. When she left the bar, she remembered Doe not looking or acting intoxicated.

HEGSETH’S STATEMENTS

The officer contacted Hegseth, who recounted the events of the evening of the alleged incident. He claimed that no one at the bar was “blacked out drunk,” and that he did not remember the argument by the pool.

Hegseth claimed that Doe had led him to his hotel room. He alleged that the incident between Doe and him was consensual. He also reportedly checked multiple times that Doe was comfortable with what was going on. Hegseth claims that both Doe and him would say things like “we shouldn’t do this” during the encounter.

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After the encounter, Doe allegedly told Hegseth that she would tell her husband that she had fallen asleep on a couch in someone else’s room. He claims that Doe “showed early sings of regret.”