A police report reveals new details of an alleged sexual assault in 2017 between a woman and Pete Hagseth, the man nominated by US President-elect Donald Trump to be the country's next defense secretary, UNN reports citing the BBC.
Details
The woman claimed that Hughes, who was then a Fox News host, took her phone and locked the door to her hotel room during the Republican convention in California, according to the report.
Hegseth, a former National Guard officer, denies any wrongdoing and claims that the meeting was consensual. He was not arrested or charged.
The 22-page report includes interviews with the victim, a hotel employee, a nurse, and a witness who was in the hotel at the time of the alleged incident.
Trump is standing by his nominee after the report and allegations. On Thursday, he issued a statement calling Hagesse "a highly respected combat veteran who will serve our country with honor.
"This report confirms what Mr. Hagseth's lawyers have been saying all along: the incident was fully investigated and no charges were filed because the police determined the allegations were false," said Trump spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt.
The police first learned about the alleged attack from a nurse at the emergency room.
They contacted law enforcement after assisting a woman who claimed she may have been drugged and sexually assaulted while drinking alcohol with colleagues at a political gathering, according to a report from the Monterey Police Department. The report was obtained by Mediaite and other US news sites.
The nurse told the police that the woman "thinks that something was slipped into her drink, as she does not remember most of the events of that night".
The woman at the center of the lawsuit, whose name is not mentioned in the report, later identified the man as Hegseth.
According to the report, the woman met Hegseth at a Republican convention where he was a keynote speaker. She said she had seen Hegseth behave inappropriately with other women and confronted him at a hotel room party.
She then went to the hotel bar with Gagset and a group of people, after which "everything became fuzzy," she told police.
The woman told police that she remembered arguing with Gagset at the hotel pool. A hotel employee who handled the disturbance confirmed this to police, the report said.
The woman told police that she remembered later being with Ghegseth in an unknown hotel room, where she claimed he took her phone and locked the door.
She told police she remembers "saying ‘no’ a lot," according to the report.
Her next memory is of Gagset hovering over her while she was lying on a couch or bed, she told police.
Hegseth told police that he was "buzzed" the night of the incident, but not drunk, according to the report. He said he met the woman at a bar and claimed she led him by the hand to his hotel room.
The police recommended that the case be referred to the Monterey County District Attorney's office for review. Hagset was never arrested or charged.
Hagseth's lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, previously told the BBC's American partner CBS News that Hagseth paid the woman to keep quiet so that he would not risk losing his job at Fox News.
The agreement kept the woman from filing a lawsuit, Mr. Parlatore added. Gagset continued to deny any wrongdoing.
Татуювання кандидата Трампа на посаду очільника Пентагону викликало підозри - AP16.11.24, 14:29