Monterey, Calif. – Army veteran turned Fox News host Pete Hegseth chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to be Secretary of Defense during his second term was investigated for an alleged sexual assault in 2017, officials in Monterey, California, confirmed.
In response to several public records requests to the city, including one from CBS News, officials released a public statement Thursday evening about a 2017 police investigation into Hegseth. The statement from the city manager’s office and the Monterey Police Department contained few details about the case and indicated they would make no further public statements related to the investigation.
The incident reportedly occurred between one minute before midnight on October 7, 2017 and 7 a.m. on October 8, 2017 at 1 Old Golf Course Road, where the Hyatt Regency Monterey hotel is located. A police report was filed with the Monterey Police Department three days later on October 12, 2024.
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Police did not release the name or age of the alleged victim, but described the injuries as “bruising” to the right thigh.
The statement said no weapons were involved.
News of the sexual misconduct allegation was revealed Thursday by Vanity Fair when the magazine reported that Trump’s new chief of staff, Susie Wiles, had been briefed on Hegseth’s alleged sexual misconduct involving a woman, citing anonymous sources – one of whom reportedly stated that the incident took place in Monterey.
The allegation sparked a discussion between Wiles, Trump’s legal team and Hegseth, who described the allegation as a consensual encounter and a classic case of he said, the magazine reported.
Timothy Parlatore, a former Trump lawyer who represents Current and former members of the US military told Vanity Fair: “This allegation was previously investigated by the Monterey Police Department and they found no evidence to support it.” . »
Hegseth is a veteran from Iraq and Afghanistan with a handful of military medals, including two Bronze Stars, and undergraduate and graduate degrees from Princeton and Harvard.
As of 2019, Hegseth has been married to his third wife, Fox News producer Jennifer Rauchet. The two were married at Trump’s National Gold Club in Colts Neck, New Jersey.
Hegseth and his first wife, Meredith Schwarz, divorced in 2009. He and his second wife, Samantha Deering, divorced in 2017, the year he was investigated for alleged sexual assault.
Disagreement over Hegseth’s qualifications
Following Trump’s announcement Tuesday night that he would nominate Hegseth for defense secretary, many are wondering if the 44-year-old “Fox & Friends Weekends” co-host can handle the department of Defense, which has a budget of 842 billion dollars. , nearly three million employees and 750 military installations worldwide.
“The Pentagon needs real reform, and it has a leader who has the courage to make it happen,” Trump’s chosen national security adviser, Republican Mike Waltz of Florida, said in a message on the social media platform. X. Waltz is a former colonel in the Army Green Berets.
Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, who served in the Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Hegseth was not “very qualified” to be defense secretary.
“The SecDef [secretary of defense] makes life-or-death decisions every day that affect more than 2 million troops worldwide. This is not an entry-level job for a television commentator,” Crow said on X. “The Senate should do its job and reject this nomination.”
Hegseth’s controversial views
Hegseth is a longtime conservative and staunch Trump ally who has spoken out about changes Trump should make at the Pentagon.
He said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown should be fired for “pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians.”
And he believes women shouldn’t fight for the U.S. military, a point he reiterated last week in an interview with “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast.
Prior to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden in January 2021, the Associated Press reported that 12 members of the U.S. National Guard were removed from their role in securing the event after being examined by the U.S. military and the FBI. Members made extremist statements in messages or text messages or had ties to right-wing militias.
Hegseth revealed during his interview with Shawn Ryan, a former Navy SEAL, that he was one of the National Guard members removed from the inauguration.
James LaPorta
