Trump Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth has broken his silence on the sexual assault accusation made against him back in 2017, which has resurfaced since President-elect Trump tapped Hegseth for the DOD position.
A police report concerning the allegation against Hegseth, a decorated combat veteran and former Fox News host, was released last week in response to a public records request. An unnamed woman claims Hegseth sexually assaulted her in a hotel room following a conservative conference. Hegseth said that the encounter was consensual and police decided against any further action.
“It’s very simple,” Hegseth told reporters on Thursday. “The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m gonna leave it.”
Tim Parlatore, an attorney for Hegseth, told the New York Post on Monday that they are demanding a file from the Monterey County district attorney’s office that they believe will show further exonerating details about the interaction.
The memo the legal team is seeking outlines why the district attorney’s office decided not to prosecute, Parlatore said. It allegedly details an earlier allegation of sexual misconduct made by Hegseth’s accuser.
“As part of our investigation, we received credible information indicating that she may have made a similar false allegation against another man in the past and the DA may have relied upon this as part of their determination, in addition to other witnesses who contradicted her story,” Parlatore said.
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As highlighted by The Daily Wire, the police report on the incident reveals that a man, presumed to be the accuser’s husband, told authorities that the woman told him she fell asleep in a friend’s hotel room when first explaining why she was out until 4 a.m. According to the report, Hegseth told authorities the woman told him this was the lie she would tell her husband, after panicking to Hegseth about cheating on her spouse.
There is also security footage from the hotel and witness accounts that reveal the accuser was not intoxicated and was seen leaving the hotel bar with Hegseth in locked arms and “smiling.”
The police report also details how the accuser contracted BV, or bacterial vaginosis, after having relations with Hegseth. This caused contention between the accuser and her husband. At one point, the woman asks her husband “to use a condom” when they had sex, for example.
Related: Megyn Kelly Methodically Breaks Down ‘Bulls*** Allegation’ Against Pete Hegseth