Trump Taps MN Native To Be Secretary Of Defense

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is nominating Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth as his secretary of defense.

Hegseth co-hosts Fox News’s "Fox & Friends Weekend." There, he developed a friendship with Trump, who regularly appeared on the show.

Hegseth, 44, grew up in Forest Lake, Minnesota, and graduated as valedictorian of Forest Lake High School in 1999. He left with basketball records in three-pointers and shooting percentage.

Hegseth went on to study at Princeton University, where he played on the basketball team and competed in the NCAA tournament. He also has a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In 2004, Hegseth joined the Minnesota National Guard and served as an infantry captain in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

He went on to lead Concerned Veterans for America, an organization supported by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch that pushed for cuts in U.S. military spending.

In 2012, he challenged Sen. Amy Klobuchar for her seat but lost. He went on to spend the next ten years working at Fox News.

Hegseth successfully advocated for Trump to pardon four former Blackwater contractors convicted in a 2007 Baghdad shooting that killed over a dozen Iraqi civilians. The pardons were one of Trump's final acts as president in his first term.

"With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down," Trump said Tuesday. "Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy."

Hegseth has criticized "woke" policies of Pentagon leaders including its top military officer.

Critics say that while Hegseth has served in the military, he lacks senior-level military or national security experience.

"The job of Secretary of Defense should not be an entry-level position," Rep. Adam Smith, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

Trump went through five secretaries of defense in his first term. Only two made it long enough to be formally confirmed by the Senate.

Hegseth has been married three times and has a total of seven children.

He married his current wife, Jennifer Rauchet, in 2019. Together, they have three children. Hegseth also has four children from his previous marriages.