Sean Hannity claimed that a disputed sexual encounter his former Fox News colleague Pete Hegseth had with a woman who accused him of rape was “consensual.”
President-elect Donald Trump nominated the U.S. Army veteran as Secretary of Defense last month, which has spawned a series of negative news cycles about Hegseth’s past that have raised questions about his fitness for the job and ability to be confirmed by the Senate.
Chief among them is a 2017 police report in which a woman accused Hegseth of raping her in a hotel room in Monterey, California. A police investigation resulted in no charges, and Hegseth denies the allegation. The former Fox News host paid the woman an undisclosed sum, and both parties signed a confidentiality agreement. Last week, Hegseth’s attorney accused the woman, who has not been publicly identified, of breaking that agreement and suggested his client may sue his accuser for extortion.
On Monday’s Hannity on Fox News, the host interviewed Hegseth and brought up the allegation, though he spoke of it in vague terms and cited a video mentioned in the police report. The video reportedly shows Hegseth and the woman walking toward the hotel pool just after 1 a.m. with their arms locked. They “appeared to be smiling,” the report said.
“The media mob doing what they predictably do,” Hannity told Hegseth. “You had a consensual relationship. It was investigated. You were fully
It is unclear if the nature of the sexual encounter between Hegseth and his accuser was “consensual.” The evidence against him was deemed insufficient to sustain a criminal charge, which is not tantamount to an exoneration.
“I mean, in addition to personal witnesses and all of that, it was fully investigated at the time years ago,” Hegseth responded before falsely claiming he was “cleared” of wrongdoing. “I was completely cleared. And that’s why, Sean, you know what I look forward to? I’m looking forward to the FBI background check. I look forward to the actual, under-oath conversations with senators as we go through the process because, again, this is what the left does, Sean. It’s the anatomy of a smear.”
Hegseth took issue with the fact that reporting about him has relied in large part on anonymous sources.
“And then they try to try you in the media before you can even get into the doors with senators,” the nominee said.
In addition to the rape accusation, Hegseth was reported to have smelled of alcohol while working at Fox News and was reportedly heavily intoxicated at multiple work events when he ran a veterans organization. Hegseth and several of his former Fox colleagues deny the report. Hegseth also reportedly
Watch above via Fox News.