WASHINGTON — Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Tuesday pressed Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee, on whether he believes it should be disqualifying to be defense secretary if someone has committed sexual assault — challenging Hegseth’s claims that he’d been “completely cleared” of any wrongdoing amid the allegations he’s faced of sexual assault and infidelity.
Kaine grilled Hegseth about the October 2017 incident in Monterrey, California, involving a woman who accused Hegseth of sexually assaulting her and preventing her from leaving his hotel room. Hegseth has said the encounter was consensual and that he was never charged with a crime. Details are murky, though, as he entered into a nondisclosure agreement with the woman in 2020.
During Tuesday’s high-stakes hearing, Kaine noted Hegseth was still married to his then-second wife at the time of the alleged sexual assault and had just fathered a child by a woman who would later become his third wife.
“I was falsely charged,” Hegseth said. “Fully investigated and completely cleared.”
“So you think you were completely cleared because you committed no crime? That’s your definition of completely cleared?” the Virginia senator replied. “You had just fathered a child two months before by a woman that was not your wife. I am shocked that you would stand here and say you’re completely cleared. Can you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of a child that had been born two months...
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