Pete Hegseth’s co-hosts on Fox & Friends rallied around their colleague amid allegations that he is a white supremacist. Will Cain, Rachel Campos-Duffy, and Joey Jones all slammed backlash surrounding Hegseth following his nomination for Secretary of Defense by President-elect Donald Trump as “defamation” on Saturday.
The hosts' reaction was in response to comments made by Former NAACP Legal Defense Fund president Sherrilyn Ifill who told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that Hegseth is a “known to be a white supremacist, known to be an extremist,” on Thursday. Hayes pushed back on Ifill’s comment, claiming that Hegseth would “strenuously deny” any such allegation.
Ifill also referenced Hegseth’s controversial tattoos of a Jerusalem Cross and the words “deus vult” (Latin for “God wills it”). Rooted in the Crusades, some Christian nationalist and far-right groups have co-opted these historic symbols.
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“If he was a white supremacist, I think we’d know and I hope that he has the time, which I’m sure he doesn’t because he’s preparing for his hearings and everything before the Senate, that woman deserves to be sued. That is defamation,” Campos-Duffy said after a clip of Ifill’s interaction with Hayes played.
Jones, however, aimed his rebuke at the “Democrat Party,” which he claimed “would have you believe that serving in the military is some sort of indicator that you are, you know, alt-right, far-right, that you hate the country because you hate the idea of DEI, which attacks the meritocracy of the military.”
Meanwhile, Cain hailed Hegseth as someone “I know best in my life who I would vouch for their character,” and launched a long-winded defense of his colleague.
“That ridiculous opinion is based upon what she accuses him of being against: DEI [diversity, equity, inclusion]. So merit is now racist is what she’s suggesting,” he continued. “And the fact that he has tattoos. Now, look, if he was ashamed or thought he statues is controversial, I would suggest to you he wouldn’t take his shirt off and swim with 100 Navy SEALs on live television every year.”
Hegseth’s tattoos came under fire previously when it was revealed he was one of 12 National Guard members removed from President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration after being “deemed extremist” due to his body ink.
Concerns about Hegseth’s “religious” tattoos linking him to extremism, Craig said was “one man’s internet rabbit-hole theory.”
