Allegations of sexual assault surface against Trump’s defense team

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Are Sunday. I’m your host, Andrew J. Campa. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

The police report details a late night of drinking followed by an allegation of assault

A Kaiser Permanente nurse called Monterey police to report that a patient had come in for a sexual assault examination one afternoon in October 2017.

The woman said she was sexually assaulted four days earlier at a Republican women’s conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Spa in the coastal California city, the nurse told police.

The alleged attacker was a popular Fox News host and the keynote speaker at the conference.

The nurse referred the woman to the emergency room for a sexual assault forensic examination. That call prompted a law enforcement investigation, which included interviews with hotel staff, a review of surveillance video, conversations with several of the woman’s associates and a conversation with the alleged perpetrator, Pete Hegseth, who told police the encounter was consensual had happened.

No charges were ever filed. Monterey County Dist. Atty. Jeannine M. Pacioni said no charges were supported by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. The two parties eventually reached a private settlement, after which the prosecutor signed a non-disclosure agreement.

That’s where the story seemed to end — until Donald Trump nominated Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Now that night in Monterey has become the focus of what could be one of the most contentious confirmation battles in years.

What do we know?

My colleagues Hannah Fry, Jessica Garrison and Richard Winton read through the police report that provided a perspective on what happened that evening at the California Federation of Republican Women conference in Monterey.

Shortly after Hegseth’s appointment, a friend of the woman was born wrote a memo to Trump’s transition team saying Hegseth raped the then-30-year-old conservative group staffer in his hotel room in the early morning hours.

In response, Hegseth confirmed the financial settlement and said through his lawyer that he had agreed to pay the woman to protect his job at Fox. But he strongly denied committing the assault.

“The matter has been fully investigated and I have been fully exonerated, and I will leave it at that,” Hegseth told reporters at the Capitol on Thursday.

Details from the police report lead to the incident

Monterey police released a 22-page redacted report detailing the investigation, including accounts of the memories of the woman, also identified as Jane Doe, and Hegseth, along with several other attendees. Although police reports in California are not typically public, the document had been released because Hegseth had previously requested a copy.

The police report provides the most complete picture yet of what happened at the Monterey hotel on October 7 and 8.

On the second day of the three-day meeting, Doe took a break in her hotel room where she was staying with her husband and at least one of her small children before the banquet dinner and keynote speech began at 6 p.m., text messages show. and sources with knowledge of the event.

After the banquet, the woman went to an afterparty in the hotel suite of another federation member, where she had a glass of champagne. Hegseth was there too. A federation member who was there later told police that the woman “didn’t seem drunk, but had a buzz” at the event.

Around midnight, Doe, Hegseth and a second woman walked to Knuckles, the hotel’s sports bar. Doe texted her husband an update and said she was going to the bar with a group of ladies. “Omg, I have so much to tell you. This Pete guy is a… tooooool,” she wrote.

Doe told police her memory began to become “fuzzy” while she was at the bar.

Around 1:30 a.m., Doe argued with Hegseth at the hotel pool about his behavior with women at the conference. He responded that he was a “nice guy,” according to the report. She later told investigators that Hegseth rubbed women’s legs and she thought his actions were inappropriate.

Doe put her hand and arm on Hegseth’s back and guided him to the building where his room was, a hotel employee told police.

Around 2 a.m., Doe’s husband went looking for her in Knuckles, but no one was there, he told investigators.

Two different stories about the same event

(Warning: The following description contains graphic details that some may find disturbing.) Doe then remembered being alone in a hotel room with Hegseth. She had her phone in her hand and Hegseth asked her who she was texting before grabbing her phone, she told police. According to the report, she tried to leave the room, but Hegseth blocked the door. She remembered saying “no” many times, she told police.

Her next memory, she told police, was lying on a bed or couch with Hegseth’s dog tags above her face. She said he ejaculated on her stomach, threw a towel at her and told her to “clean it up” before asking her if she was okay, according to the report.

Hegseth remembered the situation differently.

He told police that Doe led him to his hotel room, where things transpired between the two of them, the report said. There was “always” a conversation and “always” consensual contact between himself and Doe, he told police.

Hegseth recalled that Doe showed “early signs of remorse” after the incident and said she would tell her husband that she had fallen asleep on a couch in someone else’s room, the report said.

Around 4 a.m., Doe returned to her hotel room and explained to her husband that she had “fell asleep.” She told police she didn’t remember what happened between her and Hegseth until the next day.

For more details, check out the full story, which will likely remain in the spotlight as Hegseth’s confirmation progresses.

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Have a great weekend from the Essential California team

Andrew J. Campa, reporter
Carlos Lozano, news editor

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