WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense-designate Pete Hegseth spoke publicly for the first time Thursday about allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017 — after a police report revealed numerous inconsistencies in his accuser’s account.
“It’s very simple,” the 44-year-old former Fox News personality told reporters on Capitol Hill. “The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m gonna leave it.”
Hegseth, accompanied by Vice President-elect JD Vance, was meeting with Republican senators who will consider his nomination to run the Pentagon early next year — flashing a thumbs-up in a photo with Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and smiling with Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).
The police report, released to The Post and other news organizations, shows that Hegseth’s unnamed accuser told police “things got fuzzy” while she was drinking with him at a hotel bar and she couldn’t remember going to his room, where they had sex.
Hotel security footage and witness testimony, however, revealed that the woman did not appear to be intoxicated immediately before she and Hegseth had sex, which he confirmed happened and told police was consensual.
The woman added that she could remember Hegseth following her out of the bar and then having an argument with him near the hotel’s pool over his allegedly inappropriate behavior toward other women at the conference the two were both attending.
But hotel security camera footage showed investigators that Hegseth’s accuser “did not have an unsteady gait” when leaving the bar around 1:15 a.m. on the Sunday in question and that she was “smiling” and had her “arms locked together” with Hegseth.
Lurid details in the police report include Hegseth’s accuser’s alleged recollection of realizing she was in Hegseth’s room without knowing how she got there.
“Jane Doe stated the next memory she had was when she was in an unknown room. Jane Doe did not know where she was and how she got to the room … Hegseth took her phone from her hands. Jane Doe states she got up and tried to leave the room, but Hegseth blocked the door with his body. Jane Doe remembered saying ‘no’ a lot,” according to the police report.
“Jane Doe’s next memory was when she was on a bed or a couch and Hegseth was over her. Hegseth’s dog tags were hovering over her face … Jane Doe stated she had seen Hegseth fully nude during this incident. The next memory Jane Doe remembered was when Hegseth ejaculated on her stomach. Hegseth threw a towel at her and asked her ‘are you ok?’”
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Hegseth confirmed some details of that account, including that he was wearing dog tags and that he gave the woman something to clean up with afterward.
His accuser said she returned to her hotel room and didn’t recall the Hegseth encounter until one day later, when she was having sex with another person.
“The sexual encounter [with the other person] … triggered her memory of the incident with Hegseth … Approximately four days later, on Thursday night, Jane Doe went to the hospital because she believed she was sexually assaulted by Hegseth,” the report says.
As part of the investigation, police acquired text message logs from the accuser, including a message apparently sent just before the sexual encounter in which she wrote, “This Pete dude is a TBD toooool.”
A witness said the women returned to their shared hotel room around 4 a.m., before confiding her allegation to them that Wednesday.
Hotel staff and other witnesses said the accuser did not seem heavily intoxicated ahead of the alleged assault.
One hotel staff member said other guests complained about “a disturbance” near the pool after Hegseth and the woman left the bar.
“Hegseth told [the employee] that he had freedom of speech. Jane Doe intervened and told [the employee] that they were Republicans and apologized for Hegseth’s actions,” according to the police report.
“[The employee] stated that Jane Doe placed her hand and arm on the back of Hegseth and escorted him toward building 4 and 5 … [The employee] stated Hegseth was very intoxicated [and] Jane Doe was not intoxicated, was standing on her own and was very coherent.”
Hegseth told the police that his accuser had expressed concern about her husband learning of the sexual encounter and that “Jane Doe stated she would tell her husband that she [had] fallen asleep on a couch in someone else’s room,” the report says.
Police did not charge Hegseth with a crime, but he has confirmed that he reached a financial settlement for an undisclosed amount with the woman to avoid what he said would be the airing of untrue allegations.
Hegseth has been married three times and has four biological children and three stepchildren from his current wife’s first marriage.
About two months before the hotel encounter, Hegseth had a child with his third wife while in the process of divorcing his second.
Hegseth’s attorney Tim Parlatore told The Post Thursday that the police report exonerated his client.
“This police report confirms what I have said all along that the incident was fully investigated and police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges were filed,” Parlatore said.
“This report corroborates what Mr. Hegseth’s attorneys have said all along,” Trump transition spokeswoman and White House press secretary-designate Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“Pete Hegseth is a highly respected combat veteran who will honorably serve our country when he is confirmed as the next secretary of defense, just like he honorably served our country on the battlefield in uniform.”