What to know about Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick to serve as defense secretary

In picking Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, President-elect Donald Trump has selected a military veteran and popular conservative media personality with a large following of his own.

Hegseth, 44, has developed a close rapport with Trump, who also reportedly considered him for a post in his first administration. Hegseth has lobbied Trump to release service members accused of war crimes.

Here are a few things to know about Hegseth.

He's a Fox News personality and author

Co-host of Fox News Channel's “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Hegseth has been a contributor to the network for a decade. He developed a friendship with Trump through the president-elect's regular appearances on the show. In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson complimented Hegseth's military knowledge, saying his “insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers.”

He's also written a number of books, several for the network's publishing imprint, including “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.” In announcing Hegseth's nomination, Trump complimented that book, noting its “nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.”

He's a military veteran

Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience.

After graduating from Princeton University in 2003, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry captain in the Army National Guard, serving overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay.

He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and also unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012. According to his Fox News bio, he has a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

As Trump formulated his first Cabinet following his 2016 win, he reportedly considered Hegseth to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. He again considered Hegseth when Secretary David Shulkin faced criticism before his ouster in 2018.

He's defended service members accused of war crimes

In 2019, Hegseth urged Trump to pardon U.S. service members who had been accused of war crimes. He advocated for the servicemen's cases on his show and online, interviewing relatives on Fox News. He posted on social media that pardons from Trump “would be amazing," and added hashtags with the names of those accused to reporting mentioning his private lobbying of the then-president.

The effort was successful, with Trump that year pardoning a former U.S. Army commando set to stand trial in the killing of a suspected Afghan bomb-maker, as well as a former Army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to fire upon three Afghans, killing two. Trump also ordered a promotion for a decorated Navy SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State captive in Iraq.

He would come to the job during a series of global crises

Hegseth would lead the Pentagon with burgeoning conflicts on multiple fronts, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies, the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah, and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea.

While the Pentagon is considered a key job in any administration, defense secretary was a tumultuous post during Trump’s first term. Five men held the job during Trump's four years.

Trump’s relationship with his civilian and military leaders during those years was fraught with tension, confusion and frustration, as they struggled to temper or even simply interpret presidential tweets and pronouncements that blindsided them with abrupt policy decisions they weren’t prepared to explain or defend.

Many of the generals who worked in his first administration — both on active duty and retired — have slammed him as unfit to serve in the Oval Office. He has condemned them in return.

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Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

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Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP