The FBI background check on Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, does not include interviews with Hegseth’s ex-wives or with the woman who accused him of sexual assault in a California hotel room in 2017, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the contents of the report.
It is standard protocol to interview current and former spouses when conducting an FBI background check, according to two other sources familiar with the process. But it is also contingent on cooperation from the interviewees, and it is not clear whether the FBI attempted outreach to those people.
Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will be holding Hegseth’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday, also sent inquiries to counsel for Hegseth’s ex-wives, but they did not share information with the committee, according to two sources.
Since Trump announced Hegseth as his pick to run the Pentagon, the military veteran and former Fox News host has faced a number of controversies and negative allegations. With regard to the 2017 allegation of sexual assault, Hegseth has said the incident was consensual but paid his accuser an undisclosed amount in 2023 as part of a settlement agreement. The local district attorney declined to filed charges in the case, saying there was no “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” for charges.
Senate Democrats have already been raising alarms about delays producing the FBI check on Hegseth and concerns about its thoroughness, while the Trump transition has downplayed those concerns.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a former state attorney general and Armed Services Committee member, told reporters Monday night that “there may be surprises” at Hegseth’s confirmation hearing “because we have been denied access to some of the materials and documents and other information, including the FBI report, that may contain information forthcoming during the hearing.”
“I just want to emphasize, there’s already ample and abundant information on the public record that shows Peter Hegseth lacks the character and confidence to be Secretary of Defense,” Blumenthal added. “There has never been a nominee for this position as unqualified as he is by virtue of financial mismanagement, as well as sexual impropriety and alcohol.”
Democrats on the committee are being briefed Monday night on the FBI report by the panel’s ranking member, Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island. Reed and committee chair Roger Wicker, a Republican senator from Mississippi, received the report at the end of last week.
The FBI did not immediately reply to requests for comment Monday evening.
