President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, released a statement through his lawyer addressing reports that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017 and paid off the accuser. The lawyer stated that Hegseth paid the accuser to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit. He also fielded allegations related to a tattoo of a cross on Hegseth’s chest.
Hegseth, a Fox News host who served several tours in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and holds degrees from Harvard and Princeton, was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after an appearance at a Republican event in Monterey, California, according to a statement released by the City of Monterey. No charges were filed.
Hegseth’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, said on Nov. 17 that the woman who made the accusation days later was the “aggressor,” although the city did not mention that.
“He was falsely accused and my position is that he was the victim of blackmail,” Parlatore said.
Parlatore added that Hegseth’s encounter with the woman was consensual and that the payment was made to her as part of a confidential settlement several years after the police investigation because she threatened a lawsuit that Hegseth believed could have resulted in him losing his job as a Fox News host.
Parlatore called it a case of “successful extortion.”
The statement released by the City of Monterey, meanwhile, provided few details about the matter. It said that the name and age of the alleged victim is “confidential,” adding that there was a report of “contusions to [the] right thigh” in the alleged incident, and no weapons were involved.
The incident occurred between 11:59 p.m. on Oct.7 and 7 a.m. on Oct. 8, 2017, according to the statement.
“Accordingly, the full police report, including its analysis and the conclusions reflected therein, is exempt from public disclosure pursuant to the aforementioned (California) Code sections,” the city stated, adding that the code only “requires limited disclosure of specific, non-private information relating to complaints or requests for assistance.”
Trump’s transition team had no immediate response to the memo on Nov. 17. The Epoch Times contacted his campaign for comment on the memo but did not receive a reply by publication time.
After the claims emerged about Hegseth, a spokesperson for Trump’s team said in a statement that the president-elect is “nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration.”
“Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed,” spokesman Steven Cheung said in the statement. “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.”
Aside from the report, Hegseth has spoken out against recent attacks regarding a Jerusalem cross tattoo on his chest as well as a tattoo on his arm that reads “Deus Vult,” which is Latin for “God Wills It.” That motto dates back to a Christian chant used as a rallying cry during the First Crusade in the late 11th century.
Vice President-elect JD Vance also defended Hegseth in response to an Associated Press report that claimed Hegseth was flagged as an “insider threat” because of the cross tattoo.
“They’re attacking Pete Hegseth for having a Christian motto tattooed on his arm,” Vance wrote in a Nov. 15 post on social media platform X.
“This is disgusting anti-Christian bigotry from the AP, and the entire organization should be ashamed of itself.”
Hegseth wrote on X that if he is nominated to head the Department of Defense, “this type of targeting of Christians, conservatives, patriots and everyday Americans will stop on DAY ONE.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
