Trump Picks Pete Hegseth, a Veteran and Fox News Host, for Defense Secretary
by https://www.nytimes.com/by/helene-cooper, https://www.nytimes.com/by/maggie-haberman · NY TimesTrump Picks Pete Hegseth, a Veteran and Fox News Host, for Defense Secretary
The choice of Mr. Hegseth, a dedicated supporter of the president-elect in his first term, is outside the norm of the traditional choice for the post.
- Share full article
Credit...Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
By Helene Cooper and Maggie Haberman
President-elect Donald J. Trump on Tuesday chose Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to be his next defense secretary, elevating a television ally to run the Pentagon and lead 1.3 million active-duty troops.
The choice of Mr. Hegseth was outside the norm of the traditional defense secretary. But he was a dedicated supporter of Mr. Trump during his first term, defending his interactions with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, embracing his “America First” agenda of trying to withdraw U.S. troops from abroad and energetically taking up the cause of combat veterans accused of war crimes.
In a statement announcing his pick, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Hegseth’s combat experience and support of the military and veterans. “Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Mr. 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.”
Mr. Hegseth is a co-host of “Fox & Friends.” He joined the network as a contributor in 2014 and has been the host of Fox’s New Year’s coverage for years.
He served in the Army in Afghanistan and Iraq and at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
A Minnesota native, Mr. Hegseth graduated from Princeton University, where he was the publisher of The Princeton Tory, a conservative magazine, for which he wrote about seeing the statue of Saddam Hussein toppled in Baghdad in 2003.
“Conservative ideas have worked, do work and will continue to work,” Mr. Hegseth wrote. “The list is long: A strong military is absolutely essential to bringing long-term peace and stability to the world.”
He holds a master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, according to Fox.
In 2019, Mr. Hegseth lobbied heavily on behalf of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a member of the Navy SEALs who was acquitted of serious war crimes in Iraq. Mr. Trump reversed a demotion ordered as punishment, then fired the Navy secretary, whom Mr. Hegseth had aggressively criticized.
Mr. Hegseth defended Chief Gallagher on Fox News and spoke to Mr. Trump several times about the case. “From the beginning, this was overzealous prosecutors who were not giving the benefit of the doubt to the trigger-pullers,” he said.
Mr. Hegseth’s book, the New York Times best-seller “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” was published in June. “Our ‘elites’ are like the feckless drug-addled businessmen at Nakatomi Plaza, looking down on Bruce Willis’s John McClane in ‘Die Hard,’” Mr. Hegseth wrote in the book. “But there will come a day when they realize they need John McClane — that in fact their ability to live in peace and prosperity has always depended on guys like him being honorable, powerful and deadly.”
In his statement, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Hegseth’s book, which he said “reveals the left-wing betrayal of our warriors, and how we must return our military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability and excellence.”
But Mr. Hegseth is likely to run into opposition from senior military officials and perhaps lawmakers who have served in the military for his embrace of narratives by troops who ran afoul of military justice rules. A former Pentagon official from Mr. Trump’s first term questioned Mr. Hegseth’s lack of experience — other than serving in the military — and raised concerns about his ability to win Senate confirmation, even with a Republican majority in the chamber.
In a statement on Tuesday, Fox News called Mr. Hegseth “an exceptional host on ‘Fox & Friends’ and ‘Fox Nation’ and a best-selling author for Fox News Books for nearly a decade.”
“His insights and analysis, especially about the military, resonated deeply with our viewers and made the program the major success that it is today,” the statement said.