Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said Wednesday that some senators may sympathize with Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled, thrice-married pick for defense secretary, because they hate their ex-wives.
“A lot of those senators are gonna be looking at him going ‘yeah, I got divorced, too,’” he hypothesized on the Fox News morning chat show. “‘My ex-wife hates me’ or ‘I hate her’ or the kids—their families are complicated.”
Vanity Fair reported Tuesday that Hegseth’s first marriage ended in 2009 after he admitted to having five affairs and told his ex-wife “I’m a f---ed up individual.”
ADVERTISEMENT
His second marriage flamed out, according to Brian Stelter’s Hoax, after he cheated on his second wife in 2016 with a producer at Fox News, where he was a host and commentator from 2014 to 2024.
He is now married to the producer, who he impregnated before his second divorce was finalized.
Hegseth’s character has come under fire amid a resurfaced 2017 sexual assault allegation and claims he mismanaged two veterans organizations, all of which he denies.
Ten former Fox News colleagues alleged to NBC News that Hegseth’s drinking set off alarms at the network—two said they could smell alcohol on him multiple times before he went on air to host Fox & Friends.
Trump’s transition team called the allegations “disgusting” and “completely unfounded and false.”
Kilmeade, meanwhile, dismissed the allegations against Hegseth, citing his former colleague’s work ethic and physical constitution.
“You can’t hold this job down, you can’t fill in for Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, work eight hours every Sunday, fill in for all of us... there’s no show he can’t do,” Kilmeade said. “The way his detractors are describing him, it would be impossible to think he’d still be [alive].”
“Pete is cut out of stone,” he added, upping his gushing adulation of Hegseth.
“He is a rock. The guy eats healthier, acts healthier, works harder, literally worked on his ranch. He has a lifestyle that reflects his discipline.”
It is unclear if Hegseth will make it to Senate confirmation hearings, where his alleged personal behavior and the sympathies of the allegedly ex-wife-hating lawmakers would be put to the test.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Trump is considering dumping Hegseth as his Pentagon pick for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
