Topline

President-elect Donald Trump’s Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth was forced to step down from the head of two nonprofit veterans groups he ran amid allegations of repeated drunken public behavior in front of staff, the New Yorker reported—the latest allegations against Hegseth that could threaten his confirmation in the Senate.

Timeline

What To Watch For

Hegseth, or any cabinet nominee that requires Senate approval, can afford to lose only three Republican votes to be confirmed for the job as the GOP will hold a slim 53-47 majority beginning next year. Other GOP senators have expressed support for Hegseth, including Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who told Politico after meeting with him that he is a “strong nominee” who “pledged that the Pentagon will focus on strength and hard power—not the current administration’s woke political agenda.”

How Were The Allegations Against Hegseth Made Public?

The sexual assault allegations first surfaced in a memo sent to Trump’s transition team from a woman who said she was friends with the accuser. The memo was obtained by multiple news outlets several days after Hegseth was nominated by Trump on Nov. 12.

What Is Hegseth’s Response To The Allegations?

Hegseth has firmly denied the allegations through his lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, who said Hegseth paid the woman a settlement in 2020 as part of a nondisclosure agreement. Parlatore said Hegseth entered into the agreement when he learned the woman and her husband hired a lawyer and told other people she planned to file a lawsuit against him. Hegseth told police he was intoxicated that night and did not know why the accuser returned to his hotel room with him, but that they had consensual sex, according to the police report. He said the woman, who was staying at the hotel with her husband, “showed early signs of regret” the next morning, and he assured her that he would not tell anyone about the encounter, the report states.

Has Hegseth Been Charged With A Crime?

No. Police recommended the case to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review, but charges were never filed.

What Are Hegseth’s Views On The Military?

Hegseth—who served in the National Guard—has intensely criticized military leadership, castigating their handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. He has also drawn controversy for criticizing diversity initiatives within the military, and calling for the dismissal of military leaders he believes are connected to “woke” policies. He has publicly and privately advocated for members of the military accused of war crimes. Meanwhile, The Guardian reported Hegseth wrote in his 2020 book “American Crusade” that if President Joe Biden won the election, the military and police would be “forced to make a choice” and that there would be “some form of civil war.” Trump has previously suggested he would use the military to go after domestic political opponents, which he described as “the enemy from within.”

What Has Hegseth Said About Women In The Military?

In his 2024 “The War on Warriors,” recapped by The Guardian, Hegseth wrote that only men should serve in combat roles. “If we’re going to send our boys to fight—and it should be boys—we need to unleash them to win,” he wrote, adding they need “to be the most ruthless” and “the most uncompromising. The most overwhelmingly lethal as they can be.” Hegseth reiterated his stance in a recent podcast, telling host Shawn Ryan on Nov. 7 “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective.”

What Has Trump Said About Hegseth?

Trump called Hegseth a “warrior” and “a true believer in America First” in a statement announcing the nomination on Nov. 12. The statement touts his service in the Army National Guard and his deployments to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan, along with his eight years as a Fox News host. A spokesperson for Trump’s transition team told the Associated Press in response to the police report being made public that it “corroborates what Mr. Hegseth’s attorneys have said all along: the incident was fully investigated and no charges were filed because police found the allegations to be false.” The police report does not say whether officials made a determination about the allegations.

Further Reading

New Sexual Assault Allegation Details Against Pete Hegseth Emerge: Here’s What To Know As Trump Defends Defense Secretary Nominee (Forbes)

Police Report Details 2017 Sexual Assault Allegation Against Pete Hegseth (Forbes)