Donald Trump’s pick for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is under investigation over a 2017 sexual assault allegation, California officials have confirmed.

Hegseth has never been arrested or charged and denies wrongdoing.

“These allegations have been fully investigated and Mr Hegseth has been cleared,” his lawyer told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. “This should have no impact on the confirmation process.”

Hegseth, the Fox News host and veteran of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, was a surprising choice for the top defense job because of his lack of management experience.

City officials in Monterey, California issued a statement Thursday night, saying they were investigating an alleged sexual assault at a hotel in the coastal city in October 2017.

The statement contained few details other than a report of alleged sexual assault that was reported four days after the incident allegedly took place at the hotel. The police report noted that no weapons or property were involved and that the claimant had “contusions on his right thigh”.

“The City of Monterey will not be making any further comment related to this investigation,” officials said.

News of the investigation was first reported by Vanity Fair magazine.

Along with Trump’s other cabinet picks, Hegseth will face hearings and a confirmation vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.

“President Trump is nominating high-caliber and highly qualified candidates to serve in his administration,” said Trump spokesman Steven Cheung. “Mr Hegseth has strongly denied any allegation and no charges have been laid.”

If confirmed for his role by the US Senate, Hegseth will arrive at the Pentagon with decisions to make on matters such as military assistance to Israel during its campaign in Gaza and on support for Ukraine in the face of a Russian invasion.

The US Department of Defense has a budget of nearly $900 billion (£708 billion) and includes 2.9 million civilians and military service members worldwide.

A conservative culture warrior, he has pledged to transform the military but has faced questions about his management experience, although his supporters have argued that he would create change at the Pentagon.

Hegseth, 44, has criticized diversity programs and women in combat roles in the military.

In a recent podcast, he said that any “general, admiral, whatever that was involved in any of the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) woke up (expletive)” should be fired.

And he said women should not serve in combat roles because, he argued, it did not make the military “more effective” or “more lethal.”

“Throughout human history, men in these positions are more capable,” he said.

A member of the Minnesota National Guard, Hegseth was stopped from serving as an officer in Washington DC during Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration.

In a book published earlier this year, he said he was turned down for the job because of his tattoos, including a Jerusalem Cross and another that reads “Deus Vult” – Latin for “God Wills”.

Both the cross and the phrase were used by Christian warriors during the Crusades. In modern times, they have been used by right-wing Christians and Christian nationalists — but also by extremist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, according to the researchers. Hegseth has denied any links to extremists.

Hegseth has seven children, including a daughter born in August 2017 with Jennifer Rauchet, a Fox producer with whom he allegedly had an extramarital affair. He later married Rauchet, his third wife.