Republished with permission from Lucian K. Truscott IV

The day after Matt Gaetz pulled his name from nomination to be Attorney General, we’re already talking about the problems Trump is having with his nominee to be the next Secretary of Defense. The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Trump’s transition team was “blindsided by the latest details to emerge about a 2017 sexual-assault allegation against Pete Hegseth. The transition team, which hadn’t been told about the original allegation before announcing Hegseth, was surprised again late Wednesday night when the Monterey, Calif., city police released a report about the 2017 allegations.”

There is understandable fall-out from Trump’s nominee having a police report that bluntly calls Hegseth’s sexual assault “Rape: Victim unconscious of the nature of the act.” Trump’s transition team sent Vice President-elect JD Vance—you knew he’d be involved—to escort Hegseth to a series of “get acquainted” meetings with Senators on Capitol Hill to explain away the report. The tone of remarks by the Senators after meeting with Hegseth was relaxed, especially coming a day after the release of the detailed statements taken from the victim who is called “Jane Doe” in the Monterey, California police report.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, told reporters that the police report was “taken completely out of context,” and was sure that Hegseth could “explain all the situations.” Mullin didn’t bother to explain how a police report of a sexual assault can lack “context,” since the “context” is in the words of the report itself.

So, to be fair to Hegseth, the nominee, let’s have a look at how the police report describes what Mullin calls “the situations.” The evening in question began at the “Knuckles Sports Bar” attached to the hotel where everyone in the Federation of California Republican Women was staying. The police report refers to JANE DOE as a victim of a “sexual assault.” The report refers to Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Defense, as HEGSETH. The report states that JANE DOE suspected that someone drugged her drink at the bar because her memories of what happened were “hazy” and “fuzzy” afterwards.

Senator Mullin said of the report, “If you read it, you can clearly see that it was two people flirting with each other.”

Let’s first see how JANE DOE described the “flirting” to the Monterey police.

From the report:

“JANE DOE stated that she remembers walking out of the bar and assumes that HEGSETH followed her because she argued with HEGSETH near the pool. The argument was about HEGSETH’s actions with women at the conference. JANE DOE remembers HEGSETH telling her he was a nice guy.”

“JANE DOE stated that the next memory she had was when she was in an unknown hotel room. JANE DOE did not know where she was and how she got into the room. HEGSETH was in the room with her. JANE DOE remembered having her phone and HEGSETH inquired to whom JANE DOE was texting. HEGSETH took her phone from her hands. JANE DOE stated she got up and tried to leave the room, but HEGSETH blocked the door with his body. JANE DOE remembered saying ‘no’ a lot. JANE DOE stated she did not remember much else.”

“JANE DOE’s next memory was when she was on a bed or a couch and HEGSETH was over her. HEGSETH’s dog tags were covering her face. HEGSETH was bare chested but JANE DOE does not remember if his shirt was completely off. JANE DOE did not notice any tattoos scars or marks on HEGSETH’s body. JANE DOE stated she had seen HEGSETH fully nude during this incident. The next memory JANE DOE had was when HEGSETH ejaculated on her stomach. HEGSETH threw a towel at her and asked her ‘are you okay?’ The last memory JANE DOE remembered was getting into bed with [her husband]. JANE DOE states that she does not remember how she got back to her room.”

“Approximately four days later, on Thursday night, JANE DOE went to the hospital because she believed she was sexually assaulted by HEGSETH. During the last few days before going to the hospital, JANE DOE stated she showered daily. JANE DOE stated she had vaginal discharge and was diagnosed with bacterial vaginosis (BV). Based on my training, I know that BV can be caused by having multiple sexual partners or having a new sexual partner. There are other factors that cause BV but are not limited to sexually transmitted disease or douching. JANE DOE stated that she does not douche.”

Now let’s hear how Trump’s nominee, Pete Hegseth, described his “flirting” to the police:

“HEGSETH advised he went back to his hotel room with JANE DOE. HEGSETH thought it was odd that JANE DOE stayed in his room. She sat down in the room and did not leave. HEGSETH stated JANE DOE and himself did not do much talking at the bar. HEGSETH stated he did more talking to a woman at the bar. HEGSETH stated JANE DOE might have felt she was in charge and had led HEGSETH to his room. HEGSETH stated that there was nothing in his mind that thought he was going to take JANE DOE home and stated, ‘it’s not even a thought.’ He might have thought that with someone else, but not JANE DOE. HEGSETH stated he was confused by JANE DOE staying in his room. While in HEGSETH’s hotel room, he stated things progressed between himself and JANE DOE. The interaction between HEGSETH and JANE DOE was consensual. HEGSETH stated there were a couple of times he had made sure JANE DOE was comfortable with what was going on between the two of them. HEGSETH stated there was ‘always’ conversation and ‘always’ consensual contact between the two of them. HEGSETH stated the engagement between himself and JANE DOE was mutual. They both would stop and say ‘we shouldn’t do this’, but things consensually continued. HEGSETH advised that JANE DOE had asked HEGSETH if he had a condom. HEGSETH told her that he did not. HEGSETH told her that they could stop if it was a problem. HEGSETH stated JANE DOE said, ‘No No No, it’s not a problem.’ HEGSETH stated he did not want to get anyone pregnant. HEGSETH stated he had sex with JANE DOE. The sexual positions were missionary style and she was on top of him. HEGSETH stated he wore dog tags. HEGSETH stated he pulled out of JANE DOE and ejaculated on her body. HEGSETH gave her something to clean up with and JANE DOE later got dressed. After the sexual act, HEGSETH stated it was very early in the morning and there was a very clear conversation with JANE DOE. JANE DOE stated she would tell her husband that she fallen asleep on a couch in someone else’s room. HEGSETH continuously asked JANE DOE if she was okay because he did not want JANE DOE to get in trouble. HEGSETH told JANE DOE that she did not have to worry about him saying anything. HEGSETH stated JANE DOE showed early signs of regret. HEGSETH did not elaborate on the signs of regret.”

Elsewhere the report states:

“DOE believes that she was sexually assaulted. DOE then remembers HEGSETH ejaculating on her stomach. HEGSETH told DOE, ‘clean it up’. Doe then found her way back to her own hotel room.”

The sexual assault by Pete Hegseth on Jane Doe described in the report happened on October 7, 2017. The Wall Street Journal reported that “Hegseth was back in his seat at Fox & Friends the following week, and on Oct. 23 attended a small, private dinner in the East Wing of the White House with Trump.”

Let’s take measure of where we are. We have a nominee to a national security position in which he will be in overall command of the nation’s armed forces. At this point, 17 percent of those serving in uniform are women. Hegseth will also supervise and command the Department of Defense civilian workforce which includes a large percentage of female employees. If confirmed, he will go into his job at the Pentagon with a police report about his sexual assault of Jane Doe in the public record for everyone in the armed forces to read.

It bears saying that in the military I grew up in and in which I served, if you were accused of any kind of behavior that involved the police making a report concerning your behavior, you would face a disciplinary board and probable administrative discharge from the service. But that was before we had a president whom more than two dozen women accused of sexual assault, abuse, and harassment, and who was called a rapist in open court by a New York judge.

Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign who has been appointed White House press secretary, emailed a response to the press about the police report. She said it corroborated Hegseth’s description of the encounter at the hotel. She stated that “the incident was fully investigated, and no charges were filed because police found the allegations to be false.”

Contrary to Leavitt’s reading, nowhere in the police report of Hegseth’s sexual assault of Jane Doe is there a single sentence stating that Jane Doe’s allegations about Hegseth were false. All the police report does is list in detail the contents of the interviews with Jane Doe and Hegseth and several other witnesses.

Later, after his so-called “consensual” sexual encounter with Jane Doe, when she threatened a civil lawsuit for sexual assault and the distress it caused, Hegseth agreed to pay her money in return for her signature on a non-disclosure agreement that to this day prevents her from speaking with others about their night together at the hotel. Senator Mullin of Oklahoma preferred to call what was described in the police report as “flirting,” because in his world anyway, everyone knows that the first thing you do when you flirt with a woman is lock her in your hotel room and take her cell phone away, and then of course when the woman charges you with sexual assault rather than “flirting,” you end up answering questions from the police and getting threatened with a lawsuit and paying off the woman to keep her mouth shut.

There’s something tickling the back of my mind about another man who was “flirting” with a woman in a hotel room, who ended up threatening to tell the world about his “flirting” and was paid off to keep quiet and made to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I’ve got it! Her name was Stormy Daniels, and the man who paid her off was Donald Trump! No wonder Trump nominated Hegseth to run the Pentagon. It would be like having a mini-me over there across the Potomac doing his bidding, at least when he isn’t blocking hotel room doors on visits to Europe to rattle his saber at NATO or to Moscow to meet with Putin’s defense secretary.

Matt Gaetz pulled his name from nomination to be Attorney General at the same time Hegseth was being squired around to the offices of Republican senators to explain his side of the “situations.” Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, said she looked forward to the “discussion” she and other senators would have with Hegseth about his nomination.

Because that’s what you do with Trump nominees who are accused of sexual assault against women. You have “discussions” before you vote to give them authority over several hundred thousand young women who serve in our nation’s military, not to mention authority over the defense of our nation.

Not to worry. Hegseth will have plenty of Trump lawyers, advisers, and lackeys at his Senate hearing to “clean it up” for him.