Journalist and attorney Megyn Kelly weighed in this week on the sexual assault accusation swirling around Trump Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, saying the accusation “smells” and highlighting how police decided not to prosecute.
A police report concerning the allegation against Hegseth, a decorated combat veteran and former Fox News host, was released on Wednesday in response to a public records request. An unnamed woman claims Hegseth sexually assaulted her in a hotel room back in 2017. Hegseth said that the encounter was consensual and police decided against any further action.
“The Monterey Police did not bring charges,” Kelly said, noting that the accuser’s husband and children were apparently asleep down the hall in the hotel.
“Pete said that he had got swept up in some woman’s guilt trip over the fact that she chose to sleep with ‘Pete Hegseth, big Fox News star,’ while her husband was asleep down the lane there in the hotel, and she didn’t want to tell him the truth.”
“The cops chose not to prosecute,” Kelly continued. “If they had found date rape drug in her system — she said she had a rape exam the next morning — they 100% would have prosecuted him.”
“So, to me, that one smells,” Kelly said. “And it smells bad.”
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The police report says that Hegseth told authorities that he repeatedly sought the consent of the woman and made sure she was “comfortable with what was going on.” Video footage from the hotel shows the pair leaving a hotel bar with their arms locked together.
Hegseth’s attorney confirmed that his client paid the woman an undisclosed amount of money and had a confidentiality agreement out of fear that the woman would try to ruin Hegseth’s career, despite the host maintaining that the encounter was consensual.
“This police report confirms what I’ve said all along, that the incident was fully investigated, and police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges were filed,” Timothy Parlatore, an attorney for Hegseth, said on Wednesday.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, similarly said that “police found the allegations to be false.” She also called Hegseth “a highly-respected Combat Veteran who will honorably serve our country when he is confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense, just like he honorably served our country on the battlefield in uniform,” according to CNN.
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