Pete Hegseth

Pete Hegseth (born June 6, 1980, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.) is an American TV personality and former U.S. Army National Guard officer who was a cohost of Fox & Friends Weekend from 2017 to 2024, and while on the show he became known for his conservative views. He is a supporter of Donald Trump, and after Trump was elected to a second term as president in 2024, he named Hegseth as his nominee for secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Education and National Guard

Hegseth grew up in Minnesota, and in 1999 he enrolled at Princeton University. There he played basketball, studied politics, and became a frequent contributor to The Princeton Tory, the school’s conservative newspaper. For a time he served as publisher, and he was responsible for articles that, as he wrote, “strive to defend the pillars of Western civilization against the distractions of diversity.” Among these pieces, which stirred controversy at Princeton, was an editorial he cowrote that declared that “the homosexual lifestyle is abnormal and immoral.”

In 2003 Hegseth graduated from Princeton and the school’s Army ROTC program. He then became a member of the Minnesota National Guard and later joined the Army National Guard, rising to the rank of major. Hegseth was deployed three times. After serving at Guantánamo Bay, he was a platoon leader in Iraq and later taught counterinsurgency tactics in Afghanistan. His various military honors include two Bronze Stars.

Senate run and Fox & Friends Weekend

In 2012 Hegseth ran to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate as a Republican, but he dropped out before the party’s primary. Two years later he became a contributor to Fox News, and in 2017 he became cohost of Fox & Friends Weekend. In that post Hegseth frequently spoke of his support for President Trump. After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, Hegseth promoted Trump’s unfounded claim of widespread voter fraud. In 2021 Hegseth was removed from the National Guard group that was to provide security for Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. The reported issue was his Jerusalem cross tattoo, which he said was simply a Christian symbol, but officials noted that it is also used by Christian nationalists. His other tattoos include the words Deus Vult (Latin: “God wills it”), which was a battle cry during the Crusades and later appropriated by white supremacists. Hegseth left the National Guard later in 2021.

Defense secretary nomination

In 2024 Trump won a second presidential term, and he selected Hegseth as his nominee for defense secretary; the post requires Senate confirmation. The selection proved controversial, many citing Hegseth’s lack of experience managing large, complex organizations. The Department of Defense has some three million employees and has been called the biggest government bureaucracy in the world.

Political views

Hegseth has been especially critical of the military. He has accused generals and other leaders of being “woke” and claimed that what he sees as their focus on diversity and equity has weakened the military. He also does not believe that women should serve in combat roles, and he has supported pardons for soldiers convicted of war crimes. He has outlined his various views in a series of books, including The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free (2024).

Personal life

In 2004 Hegseth married Meredith Schwarz; the couple divorced in 2009. The following year he wed Samantha Deering, and they later had three children. In 2017 Pete Hegseth had a child with Jennifer Rauchet, who also worked at Fox News. Later that year he and Deering divorced, and Hegseth married Rauchet in 2019. At the time he also became stepfather to Rauchet’s three children from a previous marriage.