(NewsNation) — Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Pete Hegseth as the next Secretary of Defense has gotten a lot of attention.
While some praised the 44-year-old current co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend,” others criticized Hegseth as lacking experience. If confirmed by the Senate, Hegseth would be the second youngest Secretary of Defense, after Donald Rumsfeld, who was confirmed in 1975 at the age of 43.
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“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump said in a statement Tuesday. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our military will be great again, and America will Never back down.”
Pete Hegseth’s time in the military, Fox News
Hegseth served as an infantry captain in the Army National Guard and did tours in Afghanistan and Iraq after graduating from Princeton University in 2003. He earned two Bronze stars.
Formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, which the Associated Press writes is backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, Hegseth ran for U.S. Senate in Minnesota in 2012, but lost his race.
Hegseth has been contributing to the Fox News Channel for a decade. A Fox News spokesperson. to the AP, said Hegseth’s “insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers.”
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He is an author of books including, “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.”
Pete and his wife Jenny live in Middle Tennessee and have seven children, according to his website.
Pete Hegseth on women in military
Comments Hegseth made on “The Shawn Ryan Show” about women in combat are getting a lot of attention.
“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles,” Hegseth said. “It hasn’t made us more effective, it hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated.”
While Hegseth said he’s served with women and they’ve been “great,” institutions shouldn’t have to “incentivize” that in positions where “men are more capable.”
Pete Hegseth walks to an elevator for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York, Dec. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Pete Hegseth criticizes ‘woke’ military
In his book, Hegseth wrote that the next president of the United States needs to radically overhaul Pentagon senior leadership to make us ready to defend our nation and defeat our enemies.
“Lots of people need to be fired,” Hegseth wrote, according to Reuters.
Trump in June told Fox News he would fire generals he called “woke.”
Hegseth has decried so-called programs that promote equity and inclusion, and previously accused the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, of “pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians.”
Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump
When Trump was creating his first cabinet, he reportedly considered Hegseth to be head of the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2016, the AP wrote, and then again in 2018 when Secretary David Shulkin faced criticism before being ousted. Hegseth confirmed on a podcast last week that he was interviewed multiple times for the VA position in 2016.
“Ultimately I think (Trump) thought I was a little young,” Hegseth said during his appearance on “The Shawn Ryan Show.”
In 2019, Hegseth encouraged Trump to pardon U.S. service members accused of war crimes on his Fox News show, and said on social media that the President-elect doing so “would be amazing.” This was despite warnings from U.S. officials and organizations that it would damage the military justice system‘s integrity. Trump ultimately pardoned a former U.S. Army commando set to stand trial in the killing of a suspected Afghan bomb-maker and a former Army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to fire upon three Afghans, killing two.
Years before that, on a 2015 “Fox & Friends” segment on the 240th anniversary of the Army’s founding, Hegseth went viral when he struck a master sergeant in the arm with an ax. Both he and Fox News were named in a lawsuit that was discontinued in 2019, according to the AP.
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Reactions to Hegseth’s appointment
Sources NewsNation has spoken to are shocked at his being tapped by Trump to lead the Department of Defense, echoing criticisms that he is inexperienced.
Retired Army Major General William Enyart told NewsNation that if Hegseth is confirmed, U.S. adversaries will view Hegseth as a “pretty boy from TV.”
“Trump picking Pete Hegseth is the most hilariously predictably stupid thing,” Former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said on X. Speaking on CNN’s Anderson Cooper, though, Kingziner called Hegseth “very smart when it comes to things like defense policy.”
Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he’s concerned Hegseth won’t be able to tackle Pentagon bureaucracy.
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“I confess I didn’t know who he was until 20 minutes ago,” Smith told reporters, according to POLITICO. “And he certainly doesn’t seem to have any background whatsoever in DOD policy.”
Speaking to The Hill, Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass, a former Marine Corps officer said he believes Hegseth is “going to try very hard to politicize the military.”
“That’s been his MO at Fox News and in his variety of positions since he got out of the National Guard as well, and so that’s not going to be a good influence,” Moulton said in an interview with The Hill.
However, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla, who will also become a new member of Trump’s administration as national security adviser, said Hegseth is going to be a leader who has the grit to bring “real reform” to the Pentagon.
“Congratulations to my friend @PeteHegseth — a combat decorated veteran — and let’s re-establish deterrence through America’s strength,” Waltz said.
NewsNation reached out to Trump’s team for comment on the backlash Hegseth has gotten. In response, they sent back Trump’s initial statement announcing the pick, in which the President-elect says Hegseth will be a “courageous and patriotic champion” of his “Peace through Strength” policy.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
