WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Hegseth, a popular Fox News host who is Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense, was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a speaking appearance at a Republican women’s event in Monterey, California, according to a statement released by the city. No charges were filed in the case.
Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told The Associated Press the allegations were “completely false.”
“This was investigated by the police at the time and they found no evidence,” Parlatore said.
Hegseth also was flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member due to a tattoo he has that’s associated with white supremacist groups.
Hegseth, who has downplayed the role of military members and veterans in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and railed against the Pentagon’s subsequent efforts to address extremism in the ranks, has said he was unfairly identified as an extremist due to a cross tattoo on his chest.
This week, however, a fellow Guard member who was the unit’s security manager and on an anti-terrorism team at the time, shared with The Associated Press an email he sent to the unit’s leadership flagging a different tattoo of Hegseth’s that’s been used by white supremacists, concerned it was an indication of an “Insider Threat.”
If Hegseth assumes office, it would mean that someone who has said it’s a sham that extremism is a problem in the military would oversee a sprawling department whose leadership reacted with alarm when people in tactical gear stormed up the U.S. Capitol steps on Jan. 6 in military-style stack formation. He’s also shown support for members of the military accused of war crimes and criticized the military’s justice system.
Sexual assault charges
According to that statement, Monterey Police were contacted in October 2017 to investigate a sexual assault that allegedly took place several days earlier at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Monterey and involved Hegseth.
The person who reported the assault — whose name, age and sex were not released — had bruises on the right thigh. No weapons were involved in the encounter, the person told police. The incident occurred sometime between 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 7 and 7 a.m. the following morning, according to the city’s statement.
Hegseth was in town at the time to address the California Federation of Republican Women during a banquet dinner held at the group’s biennial convention, according to social media posts and promotional materials from the time.
At the time of the alleged assault in 2017, Hegseth, now 44, was going through a divorce with his second wife, with whom he has three children. She filed for divorce after he had a child with a Fox News producer who is now his wife, according to court records and social media posts by Hegseth. His first marriage ended in 2009, also after infidelity by Hegseth, according to court records.
‘People who love our country’
Since Jan. 6, Hegseth, like many Trump supporters, has minimized both the riot’s seriousness and the role of people with military training. Amid the widespread condemnation the day after the assault, Hegseth took a different approach. On a panel on Fox News, Hegseth portrayed the crowd as patriots, saying they “love freedom” and were “people who love our country” who had “been re-awoken to the reality of what the left has done” to their country.
Of the 14 people convicted in the Capitol attack of seditious conspiracy, the most serious charge resulting from Jan. 6, eight previously served in the military. While the majority of those with military backgrounds arrested after Jan. 6 were no longer serving, more than 20 were in the military at the time of the attack, according to START.
Hegseth wrote in his book “The War on Warriors,” published earlier this year, that just “a few” or “a handful” of active-duty soldiers and reservists had been at the Capitol that day. He did not address the hundreds of military veterans who were arrested and charged.
