Overnight, a police report was released detailing a 2017 sexual assault allegation against Fox host Pete Hegseth. It comes down as Hegseth arrives here today to meet with the Republican senators, who will decide whether or not to confirm him. [00:00:15] A lot of controversy surrounding some of Donald Trump's appointments for his upcoming administration, and Pete Hegseth happens to be at the center of some of that controversy. Hegseth is Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary, and he's facing more public scrutiny today after a police report detailing [00:00:35] his alleged sexual assault was released. So the incident occurred several years ago, back in October of 2017 at a Republican women's conference in Monterey, California. The accuser is referred only as Jane Doe in this 22 page police report, [00:00:54] and here is her account of what happened. She says she encountered Hegseth at this conference, he was giving off a creeper vibe, she says. She ends up in a strange hotel room and when she's there. Hegseth took her phone from her hands and he blocked the door with his body. [00:01:13] She went on to say she remembered saying no a lot. Now there was a lot she couldn't recall. And she said she believes something may have been slipped into her drink. Although there were other witnesses who said when they saw her she did not seem to be overly intoxicated. There were also conflicting accounts from witnesses at this conference [00:01:31] about an interaction that this woman had with Hegseth. At a bar at the hotel, one person said that Hegseth was hitting on another woman, and Jane Doe arrived to be a, quote, crotch blocker to stop him from hitting on this other lady. A different conference attendee said it appeared that Jane Doe and another woman [00:01:49] were flirting with Hegseth. So obviously, as you heard, there are conflicting reports, but there's also a big lie or misconception that's being spread by Hegseth and his supporters about how the police report [00:02:04] cleared him of any wrongdoing. That is not true. The truth is, we don't know what happened. Okay. And the prosecutor decided against filing any charges or pursuing any charges against Hegseth. Now, Jane Doe says that her first memory of being in the hotel room [00:02:21] was when she was on a bed or a couch, and Hegseth was on top of her. She said that his dog tags were hovering over her face and that he was bare chested. She told police he ejaculated onto her stomach before throwing her a towel [00:02:37] and asking, are you okay? The woman said she does not remember how she got back to her room. Now Doe's husband, who was at the conference with her, told police that he was worried about her because she didn't come back to the hotel room that night and only returned about after about like 4 a.m. [00:02:55] Four days later, she went to the hospital in order to get a, you know, an exam to see, you know, Basically a rape kit. And so she said that she wasn't sure if there was, you know, any penetration, but that she believes that she was sexually assaulted. [00:03:11] And that's when an emergency room nurse at the hospital decided to report this to the authorities. So last week, CNN reached out to the woman. They say that as soon as they reached out to her, she, like, broke into tears when asked about the incident and declined to comment about it. [00:03:26] And according to the police report, police also spoke to two other women at the conference who told them that Hegseth put his hand on their thighs and invited them to his hotel room. Hegseth, meanwhile, tells a very different story. [00:03:42] Let's watch. He describes an evening of consensual sexual intercourse. He says that this woman, Jane Doe, ends up in his hotel room. He found it kind of odd that she stuck around, but they became intimate. And he tells authorities there was always conversation [00:03:58] and always consensual conduct. He said that he and Jane Doe discussed that she was married, and she said she would tell her husband she had fallen asleep on the couch in someone else's room. He also told authorities she showed early signs of regret, although he didn't describe what that means. [00:04:15] Now his attorney and this is the thing that bothers me, basically told CNN on Wednesday night this police report confirms what I've said all along, that the incident was fully investigated and police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges were filed. [00:04:30] To be clear, while it is true that police did not end up charging him, the prosecutors did not pursue this case. They did not find the allegations to be false. They just did. The prosecutor might have decided there isn't enough evidence to pursue this case. [00:04:47] This happens literally all the time. It doesn't necessarily mean that sexual misconduct did not happen. But what this does mean is we don't know. This hasn't been fully investigated. There wasn't any type of trial or any real like robust investigation [00:05:02] into these allegations. Yeah, I hate this story. And I'll tell you why. So first, we have no idea what happened, but the two different camps are absolutely positive. Looking at the same evidence or no evidence, every Republican is [00:05:18] absolutely convinced he didn't do it. Every Democrat seems to be convinced that he did do it. Really? Like we all conveniently thought like you. We all analyze the evidence fairly and impartially, and it just so happened that all the Democrats believe that he did do it, and all the Republicans [00:05:35] happen to believe that he didn't. Come on. So everyone is biased and it drives me crazy. So when you look at the evidence, it's impossible to tell. So on the one hand, she says he might have slipped me a drug if he did. Oh my God, did I hate him. And it's awful. It's you know. And then that's not that's rape. Right. [00:05:52] If you slip a drug in, she doesn't know what's happening. You take her back to your room, etc.. You get it? And he said that it's odd that she stayed in. Why is that odd that she stayed in your room when presumably you guys went back to do something in your room, so I don't understand that part of his story. [00:06:08] Right. On the other hand, the witnesses largely backed him up. They say that he was actually very drunk, but that she appeared to be coherent. A couple of witnesses said that didn't seem too drunk. Had one glass of champagne. A little bit of vodka is what they saw. But on the other hand, they might not have seen [00:06:25] if he slipped something in her drink. Right. But they say that she was she appeared to be coherent, they said. One witness says that she was flirting with him rather than the other way around. He says that she's got a husband. And so she wanted to, you know, she felt bad. [00:06:41] So she had to tell her husband a story. And she told this story. How the hell are we supposed to know? We. None of us were there. I have no idea what happened there. Is it possible that she, you know, felt guilty about it and then said this? It's possible. And he's famous. [00:06:58] And that's another thing that's a factor. Is it possible that he's a giant jerk and did this also? Very possible. But if he did do it and he gets away with it, It's disgusting and heartbreaking. If he didn't do it and it really was consensual, then. [00:07:14] Then as much as I deeply dislike Pete Hegseth, then he got then he's. It's super. It's unfair. Yeah. No, I totally I agree, I agree, I also hate these stories because we, we are not equipped with enough information to adjudicate what really happened. [00:07:32] And so part of me feels gross even talking about the story on the chance that it might not be true. Right? That the allegations might not be true. But then part of me feels gross for not talking about the story, not covering the story, if the allegations might actually be true. [00:07:49] But we have no way of knowing. Yeah. And guys, sometimes it's pretty obvious from the public evidence. Like on the one hand, Harvey Weinstein was super obvious. I mean, there was overwhelming witness testimony. ET cetera. And I would argue that Aziz Ansari was pretty obvious. [00:08:06] It was. Yeah, that he he didn't do anything wrong. Although at the time a lot of people were furious at things, I still don't understand why what they were furious at. Right. So there's some cases where you go, it's pretty clear, right? In this case is not at all clear. So I have no idea what happened. [00:08:24] And if anybody's telling you that they know for sure they're wrong, they definitely don't know for sure. So now we're left with I don't I don't know. What do you make of that? I mean, look, I don't want him to be defense secretary because he's got no business in that role. And his only qualification is that he's going to do [00:08:41] whatever Donald Trump demands of him, including maybe using the military inside the United States against not only undocumented immigrants, but potentially what he considers domestic enemies. And that's a term that he's used. So I have massive problems with Hegseth on other grounds, and I don't think he should [00:08:58] be the defense secretary, but not based on this, because this is inconclusive. Today, while visiting Capitol Hill, Hegseth was asked point blank about the accusations And this was his response if she sexually. Assaulted a woman in Monterey, California. [00:09:14] I have as far as the media is concerned, I'll keep this very simple. The matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared, and that's where I'm going to leave it. Thank you very much. Okay. So again, the police report doesn't necessarily clear him of anything, [00:09:30] but it does detail what the allegations are, what the witnesses said. And the prosecutor did not pursue charges against him. But I also want to note one other thing. So he entered a settlement with the woman. Right. [00:09:46] And so he's getting some heat for that. His attorney has acknowledged that. Hegseth later entered into a settlement agreement with his accuser that included an undisclosed monetary payment and a confidentiality clause, though Hegseth insisted the encounter was consensual. The lawyer said he was fearful that the woman was poised [00:10:03] to make an allegation against him during the MeToo movement that might have cost him his job at Fox as a host. And so it's actually very common during these monetary settlements to have the individual accepting the settlement to sign, you know, a nondisclosure or confidentiality clause. [00:10:22] So it's really not that out of the ordinary. But I'm curious what you think about that. Yeah. There's no way of knowing. You actually there is a way of knowing, but you'd have to know the sum. So if the sum is, let's say a couple of million bucks, that means he definitely did it, because that means they had so much evidence they were going [00:10:37] to get him and he had to pay it. If the sum is like 50,000, that means he didn't do it. And they had almost no evidence. And he's making he's doing that payment to make the case go away so he doesn't lose his job. So that's usually how you can tell. And the lawyers argue over the leverage before they reach a settlement. [00:10:54] So if the number is really low that means almost certainly the person didn't do it. And it's a nuisance lawsuit. But there's no way to get rid of a nuisance lawsuit unless it becomes like a giant public spectacle or you pay a small amount to get rid of it. But we don't know. [00:11:10] We have no idea if it was $1 million or $25,000. Yeah. And look, the confirmation hearing for Hegseth is going to I mean, it's going to focus on this. It's going to be like Brett Kavanaugh 2.0, in a way. So I don't know what will be adjudicated through that. But what I would want it to focus on is who do you think are quote [00:11:29] unquote domestic enemies, and would you use the military against them? Would you use the military in American streets? So that's the most that please, can anyone in DC focus on things that are relevant? Right. And so I'm not saying that if he actually did the sexual assault [00:11:45] that it isn't relevant. It would it would definitely be relevant. But we don't know. And there's almost no way of knowing. Okay. So they say settlement. On the other hand the cops did look into it. It's in Monterey, California. So and it's not like it's in deep red Alabama. On the other hand, Monterey, California has a lot of rich people, [00:12:02] and maybe they wanted to brush it under the rug, I don't know. But the cops did say did not press charges. So that's also very, very relevant. Right. So can you. There's a thousand excellent reasons to oppose Hegseth. Let's not. And here's the main thing that I ask of Democratic senators. [00:12:19] You want to ask questions about this? No problem. You want to ask how much was the settlement that could be, you know, that could tell us something. No problem. Right. But can you please also ask him real questions about the Defense Department and what he would do in the Defense Department? I mean, they made a they talked about Trump using the military against [00:12:39] American citizens prior to the election. They made a big deal about that. That's right. So they should ask about it. That should be, you know, one of their top priorities in the confirmation hearing. So we'll see what happens. But by the way, I mean, Trump himself has confirmed that that's what he intends to do. [00:12:54] So hey, thanks for watching the video. We really appreciate it guys. And we appreciate it if you become members, because that allows us to be independent, honest, progressive, all the things that you don't get from corporate media and all of that is because of you guys. Hit the join button below and become one of us. Become a young Turk.