Fox News host Pete Hegseth speaks onstage during the 2023 FOX Nation Patriot Awards on Nov. 16, 2023 in Nashville, Tenn. President-elect Trump will nominate Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense, Trump announced in a statement.
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Terry Wyatt/Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump has announced he will nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as Secretary of Defense.
“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump said. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”
Hegseth is a veteran of the Army National Guard, where he did tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay as an infantry officer. During his military service, he was awarded two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge.
Hegseth ran a short-lived senate campaign in his home state of Minnesota in 2012, before dropping out. He was also CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, a veteran advocacy organization, prior to joining Fox News as a contributor in 2014. At the network, he has helmed several programs, most notably hosting Fox & Friends Weekend.
While some former Fox News personalities have since voiced support for Trump, Hegseth is the first current employee to be nominated for a position in his administration. It’s an unexpected choice that deviates from most of Trump’s recent staff picks for his White House, who largely descend from political roles in federal and state governments.
That said, Trump has focused his attention on appointing loyal allies to positions of power within his incoming administration. In a statement, he praised Hegseth’s career, including his work on Fox, saying he used his “platform to fight for our Military and Veterans.”
Hegseth has also written several books focused on conservative causes, most recently “The War on Warriors,” which, in a blurb on his website, states, “We have only one Pentagon. Either we take it back or surrender it altogether.”
First appeared on www.npr.org