Police report reveals assault allegations against Hegseth, Trump’s chosen defense secretary

A woman told police she was sexually assaulted by Pete Hegseth in 2017 after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report was released late Wednesday.

Hegseth, a former Fox News personality and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, told police at the time that the encounter was consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said.

News of the allegations emerged last week when local officials released a brief statement confirming that a woman had accused Hegseth of sexual assault in October 2017 after he spoke at a Republican women’s event in Monterey.

“The matter has been fully investigated and I have been fully exonerated,” Hegseth told reporters Thursday at the U.S. Capitol, where he was meeting senators to drum up support for his nomination.

The report does not say that police believed the allegations were false. Police recommended that the case report be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review.