Trump team weighs Pentagon pick after sexual assault allegation

Senior officials on President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team on Friday weighed the future of Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice to lead the Defense Department, amid new revelations that police investigated an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017.

The internal turmoil over Hegseth’s future was sparked by a complaint shared with the transition team with extensive information about a woman’s claim that Hegseth assaulted her in a hotel in Monterey, California, after a Republican conference, according to a person familiar with the complaint who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. The woman who drafted the complaint said the alleged victim was a friend who later signed a nondisclosure agreement with Hegseth.

Monterey police confirmed they had investigated Hegseth over an allegation of “alleged sexual assault” in 2017 and that the incident did not result in criminal charges.

The transition team was caught by surprise by the detailed allegations and now fears more negative revelations about Hegseth, said the person familiar with the complaint. “There’s a lot of frustration around this,” the person said. “He hadn’t been properly vetted.”

The woman who drafted the complaint did not respond to requests for comment from The Washington Post.

Tim Parlatore, an attorney for Hegseth, said Friday that the assault allegation was “fully investigated and found not to be true.” Asked if Hegseth sought a nondisclosure agreement with the woman, Parlatore said “there’s no other skeletons to come out.” He added, “There’s no reason to withdraw that I’m aware of.”

The president-elect was not told about the extent of the sexual misconduct allegation before he chose Hegseth, a Forest Lake native, as the Pentagon nominee because no private firm vetted him, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.

Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement that Trump is standing by Hegseth.

“President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration,” Cheung said. “Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed. We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again.”

The alleged incident occurred when Hegseth attended a California Federation of Republican Women conference in Monterey, and allegedly took place between just before midnight on Oct. 7, 2017, and 7 a.m. the following morning at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa, according to the police statement, first reported by Vanity Fair. The allegation to police was made Oct. 12, 2017, the report said.

The police statement did not provide any other details beyond noting that the complainant had a bruise on her right thigh and that there was no weapon or property involved.

The Post could find no reference in court files to the matter. The police statement does not disclose the complainant’s name, citing her identity and age as “Confidential.” The Post also generally does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.

A Facebook post by a group called Fresno Republican Women shows Hegseth speaking to GOP women in Monterey on the day that the alleged assault occurred. “Pete Hegseth speaking to big Republican Women crowd in Monterey,” the post says.

Shirley Mark, who was the president of the California Federation of Republican Women at the time, according to tax filings, said in a brief interview Thursday that she had heard something about the allegation but that she did not know the identity of the accuser and had no comment.

Hegseth has been married three times, according to court records. He married his first wife, Meredith, in his early 20s and they divorced in 2009, according to Minnesota court filings. The couple agreed that the reasons for the split were an “irretrievable breakdown” of the marriage and Hegseth’s “infidelity,” according to a filing in their divorce case. She declined to comment.

He married his second wife, Samantha, in 2010. Hegseth fathered a child with another woman, Jennifer Rauchet, then a Fox News producer, in August 2017, during that marriage. According to court records, Samantha Hegseth, who did not respond to a request for comment, filed for divorce in September - a month after the child was born. Following his second divorce, Hegseth married Rauchet.

Hegseth is one of several Trump Cabinet picks who could face resistance in the Senate. His selection caught many by surprise. The Fox News host, who served in the Army National Guard, has echoed Trump’s complaints that the military is too “woke” and, during Trump’s first term, successfully encouraged the president to pardon Army officers accused of war crimes over objections from the Pentagon.

Trump’s team began formally vetting Hegseth after Trump called him Nov. 7 to ask whether he was interested in becoming defense secretary, a person familiar with the conversations told The Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private meetings.

Trump’s pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, also faces renewed scrutiny of sexual misconduct allegations ahead of a potentially contentious confirmation fight. The Justice Department last year dropped an investigation into allegations that Gaetz violated sex trafficking laws in a case involving a 17-year-old girl, but the House Ethics Committee has been reviewing the matter more recently and was about to vote on releasing a report when Gaetz resigned from Congress this week - just after Trump’s decision to tap him for attorney general. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing.

The president-elect himself has also been accused over the years of sexual harassment and assault - allegations he denies. A jury in a civil trial last year found Trump liable for sexual abuse of the writer E. Jean Carroll and ordered him to pay damages.

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Hannah Knowles, Jonathan O’Connell and Missy Ryan contributed to this report.