Police report reveals new details about sexual assault allegation against Trump’s nominee for defense secretary

A California woman told police that Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick, physically blocked her from leaving a hotel room, took her phone, and then sexually assaulted her, even though she remembered saying “no” many times. according to a police report obtained by CNN.

The 22-page report, released Wednesday evening by the Monterey, California, city attorney’s office in response to a public records request, lays out the competing stories about what happened in new detail — including conflicting stories about how intoxicated Hegseth and the woman were . were, and descriptions of video surveillance showing some of their movements that night.

Hegseth, who has been named by newly elected President Donald Trump as his choice for secretary of defense, told police that their meeting was consensual, and that he had repeatedly made sure the woman “felt comfortable with what was going on between the two of them’.

Seven years after the alleged attack, questions about what happened that night could jeopardize Hegseth’s nomination and are likely to be central to his upcoming confirmation hearing.

Hegseth was not charged with a crime in connection with the allegation. His lawyer has acknowledged that Hegseth later entered into a plea agreement with his accuser, which included an undisclosed monetary payment and a confidentiality clause. Although Hegseth insisted the encounter was consensual, the attorney said he feared the woman was about to make an accusation against him amid the #MeToo movement that could have cost him his job as a Fox News host .

“This police report confirms what I have said all along, which is that the incident has been fully investigated and the police have determined that the allegations are false. Therefore, no charges have been filed,” Timothy Parlatore, Hegseth’s attorney, told CNN on Wednesday evening. although the report does not say that police found the allegations to be false.

The woman who accused Hegseth of assault broke down in tears when CNN reporters asked about the case last week and declined to comment.

According to the newly released police report, the alleged attack occurred in the early morning hours of October 8, 2017, after Hegseth spoke at a California Federation of Republican Women conference at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa the night before.

An attorney for the city of Monterey, who had previously shared only cursory details about its investigation, wrote that the city released a redacted version of the police report because it had released a copy to Hegseth earlier in 2021.

The report, which identifies the accuser as “Jane Doe,” summarizes police interviews with Doe, Hegseth, conference participants and a hotel employee, and includes descriptions of video footage from the hotel viewed by police.

The released documents do not include copies of the video footage or a memorandum from the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office that could explain why Hegseth was never charged. The district attorney’s office has denied public records requests for its files on the case, citing state law.

The police report’s description of Doe’s account of the night echoes some of the details laid out in a memo written by a friend of Doe and delivered to the Trump transition team last week, sparking an uproar among Trump advisers, who were blindsided by the claim.

Both Doe and Hegseth, as well as several attendees interviewed by police, told officers they went with a group to the hotel bar, Knuckles, after the speech and an afterparty in a hotel suite.

There, a conference attendee told police that Hegseth touched her knee and invited her to his hotel room. The participant said she declined the invitation and “got the attention” of Doe and made her become what the report describes as a “cross-blocker” – hoping that Doe’s “presence would deter Hegseth’s attempt to have sex” with her would bypass. That patron later left the bar, saying Doe did not appear intoxicated “when she last interacted with her.”

Another attendee at the conference told police she saw what she described as Doe and another woman flirting with Hegseth at the bar. At the time, Doe was coherent and “did not appear to be so intoxicated that she would be unable to care for her own safety,” the participant said.

Doe told officers she believed Hegseth was behaving inappropriately toward the other women during the conference, and texted someone that he was “giving off a ‘creeper’ vibe,” the report said. Doe later told a hospital nurse that she “wasn’t sure, but thinks something may have been put in her drink because she can’t remember most of the events of that night,” and the nurse reported that to police, the report said. The report also notes that Doe said she drank “much more than normal” that day.

Officers viewed surveillance video from the hotel, timestamped around 1:15 a.m., that showed Doe and Hegseth “walking together, arms touching” leaving the bar and walking toward the hotel pool as Doe smiled.

Doe told police she remembered walking out of the bar and arguing with Hegseth at the pool, where the two argued about his treatment of women at the conference and Hegseth told her he was “a nice guy.” Police also interviewed a hotel employee who responded to guest complaints about the altercation around 1:30 a.m. Hegseth told the employee “that he had freedom of speech” before he and Doe left, the employee recalled. The employee said Hegseth appeared to be heavily intoxicated, while Doe was not, according to the report.

Doe told police her next memory after the argument was a hotel room with Hegseth. She told officers that Hegseth “took her phone out of her hands.” Then, she said, “she tried to leave the room, but Hegseth blocked the door with his body.” She said she “remembered saying ‘no’ many times” but did not remember much else, the report said.

Then, she said, she remembered Hegseth above her on a bed or couch, with his dog tags “hovering over her face.” She later told the hospital nurse that she “could not remember if there was any sexual penetration, but believes she was being sexually assaulted at the time,” the nurse told police.

Doe told police she remembered Hegseth ejaculating on her stomach before throwing a towel at her and asking if she was okay. Doe told police she did not remember getting back to her own hotel room, but remembered walking into her room and getting into bed.

Doe’s husband, who attended the conference with her, told police he became concerned when she didn’t return to their hotel room earlier that evening, and that she didn’t return until around 4 a.m.

Doe told officers that “the incident involving Hegseth did not occur to her until after she returned home. She went to a hospital and reported the assault on October 12, where she underwent a rape kit exam and turned over the clothes she wore the night of the alleged assault to police. A nurse at the hospital first reported the alleged assault to authorities.

Hegseth, on the other hand, told police that the meeting with Doe was consensual. He said he was “buzzed” that night after drinking beer and remembered going back to his hotel room with Doe.

Hegseth said Doe “sat down in the room and didn’t leave,” and that he found it “strange” that she stayed in his room, the report said.

As the night progressed, Hegseth said he made sure Doe was “comfortable with what was happening between the two of them,” and that there was “always” conversation and “always” consensual contact. The two had sexual intercourse, he said.

Hegseth said Doe asked him if he had a condom, but he didn’t. He said he asked her if that was a problem, and she said it wasn’t, and he ejaculated on her body.

After they had sex, Hegseth said, he had a “very clear conversation” with Doe, who told him she would tell her husband that she “fell asleep on a couch in someone else’s room.” He told police she was showing “early signs of remorse” but did not elaborate.

CNN’s Yahya Abou-Ghazala contributed to this report.

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