Hegseth says he's 'completely cleared' in sex assault case. The police report doesn't say that.
President-elect Donald Trump's controversial pick to be secretary of the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, met with Republican senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday amid new details about allegations of sexual assault from a 2017 incident -- coming the same day former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, facing his own sexual misconduct allegations, withdrew his name from consideration to be Trump's attorney general.
The woman who accused Hegseth, a former Fox News host, of sexual assault in 2017 told police at the time that he took her phone and blocked her from leaving the room the night of the incident, according to a 22-page police report obtained by ABC News. Hegseth told police at the time the encounter was consensual.
On Thursday, Hegseth responded to a question about the sexual assault claim, saying "the matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared and that's where I am going to leave it."
While it is true that Hegseth never faced charges in the matter, investigators found the alleged victim's version of events compelling enough to refer the matter to prosecutors. Hegseth later paid the woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a settlement agreement without admitting any wrongdoing.
Hegseth's comment came after Karoline Leavitt, the spokesperson for the Trump transition, said the "report 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." Nowhere in the report does it say the allegations were found to be false.
Hegseth, an Army veteran, could face a challenging road to confirmation and spoke with Republican senators in hopes of helping his nomination process. Hegseth met with several Republican senators Thursday morning including Sens. John Barrasso, Roger Wicker, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty.
Asked if the Hegseth allegations and police report came up in their conversation, Wicker said they didn't get into specifics.
"We weren't specific, but, ya know, since no charges were brought by the authorities, we have only press reports," Wicker said.
Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee -- which will manage the secretary of defense nomination and eventual hearing, said Hegseth would be in "pretty good shape" during his confirmation process.
Barrasso called the former Fox News host a "strong nominee" after their meeting.
"Pete pledged that the Pentagon will focus on strength and hard power -- not the current administration's woke political agenda," Barrasso said.
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said she believes an FBI background check into Hegseth would be "helpful" in knowing more about Trump's pick.
Ernst, a combat veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services committee, also said "there's a lot floating around out there, we need to actually be able to visit with him face to face, and I know the committee will do a thorough vetting."
Hegseth has been involved in other controversies as well. He has said in interviews before being named that he advocated a "frontal assault" on the DOD, including firing what he called "woke" generals and eliminating the Pentagon's diversity goals. He also argued that women shouldn't be allowed in ground combat. although he's okay with their serving as pilots or in other military roles, because he claims that has led to the military's physical standards being lowered and changed capabilities of combat units.
Hegseth's Capitol Hill visit comes just one day after Vice President-elect JD Vance and former Rep. Matt Gaetz met with senators to make his case for the attorney general role. Gaetz announced Thursday that he is withdrawing his name from consideration.
Gaetz's meetings with senators took place the same day the House Ethics Committee decided against releasing the report into him over allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
-ABC News' Arthur Jones and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
