Ever since US President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination of Fox News host Pete Hegseth for the position of Secretary of Defense, questions, criticism, and even fears about his ability to lead one of the largest and most important federal institutions have not stopped. However, many American media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, which is close to the Republicans, recently reported that senior officials in Trump’s transition team are reviewing his file, after the revelation of a previous investigation into him related to a sexual assault in 2017.

Questioning his appointment in the "Sheikhs"

Doubts mounted within the Trump team about Hegseth’s future and whether his confirmation would pass the Republican-controlled Senate. The transition team was privy to a wide-ranging account of a woman’s allegation that Hegseth assaulted her at a hotel in Monterey, California, during a Republican event. The woman who filed the complaint said the alleged victim was a friend and later signed a nondisclosure agreement with Hegseth.

Monterey police confirmed that they investigated Hegseth over the allegation of “alleged sexual assault” in 2017. The incident did not result in criminal charges. According to transition team sources, he was surprised by the allegation and feared further exposure. The Wall Street Journal said the new allegations raise questions about how thoroughly the Trump transition team was vetting him.

Hegseth’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, said Friday that the allegation “has been fully investigated and found to be false.” Asked whether Hegseth had sought a nondisclosure agreement with the woman accusing him of assault, Parlatore said there was “no reason to do so to my knowledge.”

Trump is "sticking to it"

The Trump team had officially begun vetting Hegseth after the president-elect called him on Nov. 7 to ask if he was interested in becoming defense secretary, according to the Washington Post . Trump’s communications director, Stephen Cheung, said in a statement that Trump stands by Hegseth. “President Trump nominates highly qualified and qualified individuals to serve in his administration,” he said. “Mr. Hegseth has vehemently denied any allegations, and no charges have been brought against him. We look forward to confirming him as secretary of defense, so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again.”

The alleged incident occurred when Hegseth attended the California Republican Women's Federation convention in Monterey, California, at a hotel, according to a police statement first reported by Vanity Fair. The police claim was filed on Oct. 12, 2017, the report said.

The police statement did not provide any further details other than to say that the complainant had a bruise on her right thigh and that there was no weapon. The police statement did not reveal the complainant's name, referring to her identity and age as "confidential."

Excluded from Biden's inauguration

In a sign of the extent of the concerns about Hegseth, the Wall Street Journal also revealed that days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, a security official in charge of security arrangements received what he considered a “disturbing” email about then-Major Pete Hegseth, who was supposed to be involved in security arrangements for the event. The email included photos showing Hegseth bare-chested with a tattoo on his arm of a Latin slogan that Christians raised during the Crusades and has become associated with white supremacist groups. The same slogan was displayed on signs by rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, when they stormed the Capitol.

mutual feeling

Hegseth was subsequently pulled from the inauguration. Hegseth later wrote that he saw the incident as a rejection by the military. “The feeling was mutual,” he said in his book, “The War on Warriors,” published earlier this year. “I didn’t want this military anymore. Twenty years later, the military I loved, fought for, and respected rejected me.” In a post on X on Friday night, Hegseth called the reports of his exclusion from inauguration security “anti-Christian bigotry.”

The incident, along with Hegseth’s outspoken rejection of the military’s efforts to screen service members for ties to extremist or white supremacist groups or ideologies, has highlighted questions about Trump’s unconventional choice to lead the Pentagon, the Wall Street Journal said. For critics of his nomination, the incident highlights a decade-long career at Fox News, where he has ridiculed accusations of racism in the military’s leadership, called for the firing of generals involved in programs to increase racial diversity in the military, and criticized the promotion of nonwhite officers. He has also declared that women should not serve in combat roles, criticized the military’s vaccine mandates, and pushed for amnesty for soldiers accused of war crimes.