Monterey, California – Army veteran Pete Hegseth is a Fox News host chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to be secretary of defense during the second season of investigation for alleged sexual assault in 2017, Monterey, California officials confirmed.
In response to several public records requests to the city, including one from CBS News, officials released a public statement late Thursday afternoon about the 2017 police investigation into Hegseth. Statements from the City Manager’s Office and the Monterey Police Department contained few details about the case and said they would not make any other public statements related to the investigation.
The incident allegedly occurred somewhere between a minute before midnight on October 7, 2017 and 7 a.m. on October 8, 2017 at 1 Old Golf Course Road, the location of the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel. A police report was filed with the Monterey Police Department three days later, on October 12, 2024.
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Police did not release the name or age of the alleged victim, but described the injuries as “Contusions” to the “right thigh.”
The statement said no weapons were involved.
News of the sexual misconduct allegations was revealed in Vanity Fair when the magazine reported that Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, had been briefed on sexual allegations made by Hegseth involving a woman, citing unnamed sources – one of whom reportedly said that the incident took place in Monterey.
The allegations sparked discussions between Wiles, Trump’s legal team and Hegseth, who described the allegations as a consensual encounter and a classic case of him, he said, the magazine reported.
Timothy Parlatore, Trump’s former frequent lawyer represent current and former member of the US military, told Vanity Fair: “This allegation has been investigated by the Monterey police department and they have found no evidence for it.”
Hegseth is a veteran Iraq and Afghanistan with several military medals, including two Bronze Stars, and has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Princeton and Harvard.
As of 2019, Hegseth is married to his third wife, Fox News producer Jennifer Rauchet. The two were married at the Trump National Gold Club in Colts Neck, New Jersey.
Hegseth and his first wife, Meredith Schwarz, divorced in 2009. He and his second wife, Samantha Deering, divorced in 2017, the year he was investigated for alleged sexual assault.
Disagree about Hegseth’s qualifications
After Trump announced Tuesday night that he would nominate Hegseth to be defense secretary, many questioned whether the 44-year-old “Fox & Friends Weekends” co-host could handle managing the Defense Department, which has an $842 billion budget. , nearly three million employees and 750 military installations around the world.
“The Pentagon needs real reform, and they’ve got a leader with the grit to do it,” said Trump’s choice for national security adviser, Republican Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, in a post on the social media platform. X. Waltz is a former Army Green Beret colonel.
Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, who served in the Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Hegseth is not “relatively qualified” to be secretary of defense.
“SecDef (secretary of defense) makes life and death decisions every day that affect more than 2 million troops around the world. This is not an entry-level job for a TV commentator,” Crow said on X. “The Senate should do its job and reject this nomination.”
Hegseth’s controversial views
Hegseth is a conservative and staunch Trump ally who has been vocal about the changes Trump needs to make at the Pentagon.
He said Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown should be fired for “pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians.”
And he believes that women should not fight for the US military, a point he reiterated last week in an interview with “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast.
Before the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January 2021, The Associated Press reported that 12 members of the US National Guard were removed from helping to secure the event after an investigation by the US military and the FBI. The member makes extremist statements in posts or text messages or has ties to right-wing militia groups.
Hegseth revealed during an interview Shawn Ryan, a former Navy SEAL, who is one of the members of the National Guard removed from securing the inauguration.
James LaPorta
