Witnesses told police Pete Hegseth’s victim did not appear drunk before or after 2017 encounter – IJR

The woman at the center of sexual assault allegations against Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth did not appear to witnesses to be intoxicated before or after their sexual encounter, according to a police report on the incident.

The alleged victim, referred to in the redacted report as “Jane Doe,” said she did not remember details of how she returned from a bar to a hotel room with Hegseth or much of their date, possibly because she was drugged or drinking, the police report said. However, several witnesses who recounted what they saw that night in October 2017 to investigating police officers said Jane Doe did not appear to be drunk before or after the sexual encounter.

The incident took place at Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa in Monterey, California, where Hegseth spoken as part of a weekend conference hosted by the California Federation of Republican Women. While Jane Doe alleged that Hegseth sexually assaulted her after a late night at the hotel bar, Hegseth’s attorney maintain that the meeting was consensual and that the allegations amount to de facto blackmail.

Hegseth Police Report of Nick Pope on Scribd

Jane Doe said she had consumed some alcohol that night, including a small amount of champagne and a drink at a bar near the hotel, and that she did not recall drinking any alcoholic beverages, according to the police report.

A first witness, another conference attendee who was at the after party and bar with Jane Doe, said he remembered seeing Jane Doe have “some vodka” but added that Jane Doe only seemed groggy, not fully drunk. The first witness told police that Jane Doe appeared to him to be “coherent” and not “intoxicated to the point where she could not care for her own safety” at the hotel bar, according to the police report.

The witness also said that Jane Doe and another unidentified woman — whom Hegseth proposed to return to his room — were flirting with Hegseth at the bar by doing things like touching his arm.

A police officer reviewed available security footage from the hotel and observed Hegseth and Jane Doe exiting the hotel’s adjacent bar “with their arms clasped together” and noted that “they both did not have an unsteady gait.”

The unidentified woman Hegseth followed to the bar before he ended up with Jane Doe told police that Jane Doe did not look or act like someone who was intoxicated when they last saw each other that night after the bar closed. The witness added that Jane Doe acted normal the next day and did not act like she was hungover or otherwise.

At some point, after Hegseth and Jane Doe left the hotel bar, the two got into an argument near the hotel pool, prompting other guests to file noise complaints given the time of night the altercation occurred, according to the police report . The man working the front desk at the time went to the pool area to fix the problem.

While speaking with Jane Doe and Hegseth, the front desk attendant noted that Hegseth appeared to be rather intoxicated, while Jane Doe was “not intoxicated, sitting by herself and very coherent,” according to the police report. The front desk attendant said Jane Doe then put her hand and arm on Hegseth’s back and escorted him away from the scene.

According to the report, Hegseth told police he did not recall any altercations at the hotel pool or being belligerent with anyone.

Notably, Jane Doe’s husband and children were staying at the same hotel that weekend, and he and Jane Doe were exchanging text messages that night, according to the police report. Finally, he became worried about his wife and went looking for her around the hotel premises, but could not find her.

Later, around 4 a.m., Jane Doe returned to the hotel room where she was staying with her husband and went inside, later claiming to police that she did not remember how she got back, according to police. report. Jane Doe told her husband that she had accidentally fallen asleep somewhere else, and her husband noted that she “didn’t have a hard time walking and didn’t slur her words.”

Jane Doe and her husband had sex the Monday after the weekend conference, which Jane Doe says triggered the memory of her encounter with Hegseth and ultimately led her to seek a sexual assault exam.

Hegseth told police the encounter was fully consensual and that he maintained dialogue with Jane Doe throughout to ensure her consent did not change. Without elaborating, Hegseth told police he saw “early signs of regret” from Jane Doe shortly after they finished having sex.

Hegseth and Jane Doe eventually settled out of court in 2020 with Hegseth’s attorney stating that Hegseth chose to settle because he feared the allegations would damage his career at Fox News if they became public.

Trump’s transition team was according to reports “blindsided” by the allegations against Hegseth when they first heard about them after President-elect Donald Trump announced Hegseth as his pick to lead the Pentagon. While corporation MEDIA has boosted THE graph details contained in the police report since it became public Wednesday, it is unclear whether the situation will affect his ability to be confirmed by the Republican majority in the Senate.