Monterey, Calif. – Pete Hegseth, the Military veteran turned Fox Information host chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to be protection secretary throughout his second time period was investigated for an alleged sexual assault in 2017, Monterey, Calif. officers confirmed.
In response to a number of public file requests to the town, together with one from CBS Information, officers launched a public assertion late Thursday night a few 2017 police investigation into Hegseth. The assertion kind the Metropolis Supervisor’s Workplace and Monterey Police Division contained few particulars in regards to the case and mentioned they’d not make another public statements associated to the investigation.
The incident allegedly occurred someplace between a minute earlier than midnight on Oct. 7, 2017 and seven a.m. on Oct. 8, 2017 at 1 Outdated Golf Course Highway, the placement of the Hyatt Regency Monterey Lodge. A police report was filed with Monterey Police Division three days later, on Oct. 12, 2024.
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Police didn’t disclose the identify or age of the alleged sufferer however did describe the accidents as “Contusions” “proper thigh.”
The assertion mentioned no weapons had been concerned.
Information of the sexual misconduct allegation was revealed on Thursday by Self-importance Truthful when the journal reported that Trump’s incoming chief of workers, Susie Wiles, was briefed in regards to the alleged sexual misconduct by Hegseth involving a girl, citing unnamed sources — one in all whom reportedly mentioned the incident happened in Monterey.
The allegation prompted a dialogue amongst Wiles, Trump’s authorized group and Hegseth, who described the allegation as a consensual encounter and a basic case of he-said, she-said, the journal reported.
Timothy Parlatore, a former Trump lawyer who continuously represents present and former members of the U.S. army, informed Self-importance Truthful: “This allegation was already investigated by the Monterey police division they usually discovered no proof for it.”
Hegseth is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan with a handful of army medals, together with two Bronze Stars, and has undergraduate and graduate levels from Princeton and Harvard.
Since 2019, Hegseth has been married to his third spouse, Fox Information producer Jennifer Rauchet. The 2 had been married at Trump’s Nationwide Gold Membership in Colts Neck, New Jersey.
Hegseth and his first spouse, Meredith Schwarz, divorced in 2009. He and his second spouse, Samantha Deering, divorced in 2017, the 12 months he was investigated for the alleged sexual assault.
Disagreement over Hegseth’s {qualifications}
Following Trump’s Tuesday night time announcement that he would nominate Hegseth to be his protection secretary, many have questioned whether or not the 44-year-old co-host of “Fox & Pals Weekends” can deal with managing the Protection Division, which has a price range of $842 billion, virtually three million staff and 750 army installations all over the world.
“The Pentagon is in want of actual reform, they usually’re getting a frontrunner who has grit to make it occur,” mentioned Trump’s choose for nationwide safety adviser, Republican Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, in a publish on the social media platform X. Waltz is a former Military Inexperienced Beret colonel.
Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, who served within the Military’s elite seventy fifth Ranger Regiment in Iraq and Afghanistan, mentioned Hegseth was not “remotely certified” to be protection secretary.
“The SecDef [secretary of defense] makes life-and-death selections day by day that impression over 2 million troops across the globe. This isn’t an entry-level job for a TV commentator,” Crow mentioned on X. “The Senate ought to do its job and deny this nomination.”
Hegseth’s controversial views
Hegseth is a longtime conservative and staunch Trump ally who has talked about adjustments Trump ought to make on the Pentagon.
He mentioned the Joint Chiefs of Employees Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown ought to be fired for “pursuing the novel positions of left-wing politicians.”
And he believes girls shouldn’t be in fight for the U.S. army, some extent he reiterated final week in an interview with “The Shawn Ryan Present” podcast.
Forward of then President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, The Related Press reported that 12 U.S. Nationwide Guard members had been faraway from serving to to safe the occasion after vetting by the U.S. army and FBI. The members made extremist statements in posts or textual content messages or had ties with right-wing militia teams.
Hegseth revealed throughout his interview Shawn Ryan, a former Navy SEAL, that he was one of many Nationwide Guard members faraway from securing the inauguration.
