Question

Trump's Pentagon nominee, Pete Hegseth, has been accused of sexual assault.

Comments

Using the 8 steps of fact checking
1:yes the claim traces back to the police report. I read the report and all the stated information checked out. You can find the report here https://www.mediaite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/11-20-24-Mediaite.pdf
2: Although I don't fully trust or know much about Mediaite, CNN made their own report on the matter that matched up to the report made by them so I trust it.
3:Aiden Mclaughlin has other reports and papers he's done through the website so he checks out as an editor in chief. I also looked into his twitter just to make sure the photos matched him and they do(@aidnmclaughlin) I also looked into Diana Falzone and she checked out as well. They worked on this piece together. https://www.mediaite.com/author/aidan-mclaughlin/
4: The article was posted Nov 20th, 2024, 11:31 pm so it is fairly new news.
5:yes outlets like cnn and fox news have also reported on this same news.
6:The photos match who they are talking about and the police report was also a match.
7:everything checks out on factchecker.org
8:the headline clearly states whats talked about in the article

Answer 1

This claim made by the BlueSky user is true. According to a 2017 police report, a woman in California accused the Defense Secretary nominee of sexually assaulting her. However, both Donald Trump's spokespeople and Hegseth deny the validity of these claims. While no charges were filed, Hegseth will likely face many questions regarding the accusations in his confirmation hearing. 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/pete-hegseth-police-report-defense-secretary-trump/index.html 

Comments

I appreciate the conciseness of your fact check, it would be nice if you explained why you linked that article in place of others that have covered this event. I would also like to add that Hegseth's lawyer confirmed that the woman was "paid an undisclosed sum" in avoidance of a rumored lawsuit. I think that this adds context to the situation. I found a detailed report of this by the Associated Press.
https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-sexual-assault-allegations-trump-defense-secretary-677b2df5859a338feac4714c60ef369d

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this was very informative thank you but i would like to know more it would be helpful if you went deeper into the validity of th police report or add a link. i would like to know how this will effect him going foward and what that could mean for others around him.

Answer 2

The claim that Pete Hegseth has been accused of sexual assault is true. A 22 page police report released in October of 2017 by the Monterey Police Department goes over the accusation in detail. The report does not state the woman's name or if the allegations were false. It details the alleged victims statements to the police, including her recollection of the night she believes the assault happened, statements from an employee at the hotel it occurred at as well as from a nurse who treated the victim. I was able to find this report also being used in an AP News article, which summarizes the report briefly. I also have found multiple sources that state the same information discussed in the report, such as Rueters, NPR and CNN.

 The report can be found here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25364429-hegseth_2017_police_report/

AP News: https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-assault-allegations-police-report-trump-e6ebec0a1a5c7fb51cb5e2198f5e12a5

Rueters: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/police-report-details-2017-sexual-assault-allegations-against-pete-hegseth-2024-11-22/

NPR: https://www.npr.org/2024/11/21/nx-s1-5199630/police-report-gives-details-timeline-of-the-sexual-assault-claim-against-pete-hegseth

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/pete-hegseth-police-report-defense-secretary-trump/index.html

Comments

could you give some more evidence as to why you think its true becouse the police report doesnt fully state that. this post is helpfull but i would love more information and sites where youve found information that supports yourt claim that the alligation in true. Thank you.

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I like how straight forward and non confusing this response is. It does a good job of giving an answer and then a source for the information. Although it is a straight forward statement it needs more explanation of the source. The source should be evaluated for where the claim is coming from in the first place, and how reliable of a website it is. Even though the source you used is very strong it should still be looked at on a deep level.

Answer 3

The claim that president Trump's Pentagon nominee, Pete Hegseth, being accused of sexual assault is true. In October of 2017 a 22-page report, was released by the city attorney’s office of Monterey, California. The report includes how intoxicated Hegseth and the woman were, and descriptions of video surveillance showing some of their movements that night.  It is also to be noted that several women also came forward saying Hegseth was "putting his hands on their legs at a conference" and "did not apperiacte how he treated women". These reports and other claims made by multiple women, show that Hegseth was for fact accused of sexual assault. It is also important to take into account that Hegseth Lawyer disclosed that the women who made the claim was paid an "undisclosed sum" to brush away the rumored assault. These reports and facts can be found here.

https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-sexual-assault-allegations-trump-defense-secretary-677b2df5859a338feac4714c60ef369d

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/pete-hegseth-police-report-defense-secretary-trump/index.html

Answer 4

This claim is true. while the initial claim on News Detective is linked to a social media site, the link embedded in that post took me to a news outlet. While unfamiliar with the company, I found it credible after further research and confirmed the claim. Even so, I searched and found articles on both CBS News (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pete-hegseth-alleged-sexual-assault-2017-monterey/), and CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/pete-hegseth-police-report-defense-secretary-trump/index.html). Both of these outlets got their information from Hegseth's representative, and the police report (a copy linked here https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25362284-hegseth-police-report/). The photos in the initial article are Hegseth, and all three articles are recent (November 2024).

Answer 5

This claim is in fact true. If you go to the article the user cited, you will find at the bottom the orginal police report. What is stated in the claim is exactly what is on the police report with the officer saying on the report, "I was dispatched for an alleged sexual assault".

https://www.mediaite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/11-20-24-Mediaite.pdf

Answer 6

This post is true. Hegseth denies the allegations about sexually assaulting a woman back in 2017 but the case ended with a settlement. According to the WSJ President Trump knew about the allegations while nominating him for Defense Secretary but says he believes Hegseth did not do anything wrong and the allegation is false. 

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/pete-hegseth-confirmation-hearing/card/hegseth-says-he-was-falsely-accused-as-sen-hirono-airs-sex-drinking-allegations-tI9fSECQsBeDE7DOaPkh

Answer 7

This claim made by the BlueSky user is true, Pete Hegseth was accused of sexual assault. While Hagseth denies the claims there is a police report from 2017 against him. As well he did pay the person who accused him in 2020 as part of a nondisclosure agreement. 

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25362284-hegseth-police-report/ - Police Report 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/11/21/police-report-offers-additional-details-about-2017-sexual-assault-allegation-against-pete-hegseth/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/11/18/new-sexual-assault-allegation-details-against-pete-hegseth-emerge-heres-what-to-know-as-trump-defends-defense-secretary-nominee/ - Articles from Forbes about the situation

Answer 8

True. Pete Hegseth was accused by a Californian woman of sexually assault. Hegseth made a statement to the local police department that their encounter was consensual. A report released by the attorney's office of Monterey California outlining the events. It states both parties were heavily intoxicated and talks about their movements throughout the evening. No legal action was taken. 

Citations: 

“Police report reveals new details from sexual assault allegation against Trump’s defense secretary nominee.” CNN Politics, Casey Tolan, Scott Glover and Sara Murray, 21 Nov. 2024.

Answer 9

Looking into the post on bluesky that made the claim "Trump's Pentagon Nominee, Pete Hegseth, has been accused of sexual assault" in referance to the Mediaite article "Pete Hegseth Police Report Reveals Graphic Details of Sexual Assault Allegation". While im not quite sure how reliable Mediaite is as a source, this claim seems to check out. 

In this CNN article they say that Hegseth disclosed to the Senate Armed Services Committee that he "paid $50,000 as part of a confidentiality agreement to a woman" who he "allegedly sexually assaulted". 

Hegseth claims that the encounter was consensual and that he was "falsely accused", which is stated in a PBS article  about this same topic. 

Clearly the claim is backed up by various sources, as it is only in relation to if he has been accused.

Answer 10

To determine whether or not President Trump's elected nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth has been accused of sexual assault, I first looked at the primary source directly following the initial claim: a 2024 Mediaite article, titled "Pete Hegseth Police Report Reveals Graphic Details of Sexual Assault Allegation"   by former Fox News reporter Diana Falzone and Mediaite Editor in Chief Aiden McLaughlin. 

To begin, I find it important to note the political biases of both of the authors of this article, Falzone, previously worked for Fox - a characteristically right-leaning, Republican, news source - and McLaughlin's the current Editor in Chief for Mediaite - which is rumored to be a left-leaning, Democratic news source. When searching on Google, I was unable to find a reputable source to confirm the political standing of Mediaite, however, of the sources available, all suspect the source to be primarily Democratic in nature. Given that the piece was composed by both a left and right leaning author, there's less of a likelihood for political bias in terms of the piece's content. Therefore, I believe it was a good choice to include this particular article as the primary source in backing the desired claim. 

Both the previously described Mediaite article as well as a 2024 NPR article titled, "Police report gives details, timeline of the sexual assault claim against Pete Hegseth" by Bill Chappell (leader of NPR's Flagship Digital News Team) almost identically outline the details of the late 2017 - twenty two page - police report regarding the sexual assault of "Jane Doe" by Hegseth. The offense is reported to have occurred at a "...Republican women's conference..." (Mediaite, 2024) at a Hyatt Regency Hotel in Monterey California. According to both sources, both Hegseth and Doe confirmed that they had sex at the conference, but the issue of whether or not it was consensual is the main cause of the conflict. Hegseth and his lawyer, Tim Parlatore, adamantly claim, that aside from a slight tiff about his choice to not wear a condom, to which he states was made abundantly clear to Doe, the couple's sex was entirely consensual. However, according to Doe, upon entering Hegseth's hotel room, "... he took her cellphone and 'blocked the door with his body'..." indicating clear signs of lack of mutual consent (NPR, 2024). 

According to a CNN article published in late January of this year (2025) titled, "Pete Hegseth paid $50,000 to a woman alleging 2017 sexual assault"  Hegseth and Paraltore, despite Hegseth's admittance to paying Doe $50,000 in exchange for keeping quiet, continue to deny any truth of the sexual assault allegations and he continues to serve as the US secretary of defense. 

All this to say, in reference to the original claim, "Trump's Pentagon nominee, Pete Hegseth, has been accused of sexual assault," I'm confident to say, is absolutely true.