Fox News host turned Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth faced an investigation over a sexual assault allegation, blindsiding President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, according to news reports.
Officials in Monterey, California, confirmed Friday that Hegeth was investigated for sexual assault in 2017 following an incident in the city that left a victim with “contusions to [their] right thigh.” Hegseth was not charged.
“The City of Monterey will not be making any other remarks related to this inquiry,” the confirmation read.
The allegations came to the attention of Trump’s incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Wednesday night, a day after Trump announced the pick, with one Trump team source telling Vanity Fair that Hegseth “wasn’t vetted.”
Another transition high-up told the publication Hegseth “was vetted, but this alleged incident didn’t come up.”
Wiles and Trump’s attorneys met with Hegseth on Thursday to discuss the allegations, a transition team source told Vanity Fair. Hegseth’s attorney denied the allegation and said the Monterey police department “found no evidence for it.”
Wiles has reportedly already been kept out of the loop on key personnel picks. Matt Gaetz’s attorney general bid came together on board Trump’s plane while Wiles was in a “different, adjacent room on the plane, apparently unaware,” per Politico Playbook.
The allegations come as Hegseth faces public scrutiny into a history of misogynistic comments, including his suggestion that women be banned from combat roles.
“I’m straight up just saying we shouldn’t have women in combat roles,” Hegseth said on a right-wing podcast last week. “It hasn’t made us more effective. It hasn’t made us more lethal. It has made fighting more complicated.”
