The Washington Post reports that Trump Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth, who has denied the allegations, paid the woman as part of a non-disclosure agreement. The Post got ahold of a four-page memo that a friend of the accuser sent to Trump transition officials detailing the alleged incident:
[Hegseth] maintained that their encounter was consensual, according to a statement from his lawyer Saturday and other documents obtained by The Washington Post. Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said that Hegseth was “visibly intoxicated” at the time of the incident, and maintained that police who were contacted a few days after the encounter by the woman concluded “the Complainant had been the aggressor in the encounter.” Police have not confirmed that assertion. Hegseth agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to the woman because he feared that revelation of the matter “would result in his immediate termination from Fox,” where he works as a host, the statement said.
The statement came after a detailed memo was sent to the Trump transition team this week by a woman who said she is a friend of the accuser. The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Post, alleged he raped the then-30-year-old conservative group staffer in his room after drinking at a hotel bar. …
The accuser, whose identity has not been made public, filed a complaint with the police alleging she was sexually assaulted days after the Oct. 7, 2017 encounter in Monterey, California, but the local district attorney did not bring charges. Police confirmed that they investigated the incident. After she threatened litigation in 2020, Hegseth made the payment and she signed the nondisclosure agreement, his attorney said.
Per the memo, the woman, who was staying in the hotel with her husband and children, went to the emergency room the day after the alleged incident:
The following day, the woman returned home and “had a moment of hazy memory of being raped the night before, and had a panic attack,” the memo said. The woman then went to the emergency room, where she was examined with a rape kit that “was positive for semen,” the memo said. The woman gave county authorities a statement about what happened, according to the memo sent to the transition team.
Her statement has not been publicly released. The city of Monterey said in a statement Thursday that its police department investigated a sexual assault allegation against Hegseth, with no charges filed. The friend of Jane Doe wrote in the memo that she had been in the presence of the woman at various events for 15 years and had “never known her to be irresponsible, drunk, or ever of questionable character.” …
The woman’s friend said in her memo to transition officials that she believed no charges were brought because the woman “could not recall all the details” and it became a “he said, she said” situation.
