Donald Trump announced several additions to his forthcoming administration on Tuesday—including the shocking selection of Fox News host and Army National Guard veteran Pete Hegseth as his Secretary of Defense.
“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump said in a statement. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice - Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”
Hegseth’s role requires Senate confirmation.
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Having been with Fox News since 2014, Hegseth, 44, is currently co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, where he once said he doesn’t wash his hands because germs are not visible to the human eye and therefore “not real.” Hegseth had another bizarre take in May 2020 when he called on “healthy people” to show “courage” by purposely contracting COVID-19.
Before serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hegseth graduated from Princeton, and a decade later received a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University. Last year on Fox, though, Hegseth complained about the “educational cartel” that “indoctrinates” students, saying in part: “I have a new rule: the more elite the university and advanced that a graduate is, the dumber they are.”
Hegseth has often portrayed himself as a family man, though he has been married three times. His most recent nuptials took place at Trump’s New Jersey golf club in 2019, where he tied the knot with Fox producer Jennifer Rauchet—with whom Hegseth had had an extramarital affair and a child, as APM Reports has noted.
That publication, which reported that Hegseth had an affair during his first marriage as well, drew attention to the Fox News host’s decision to edit part of his 2016 book, In the Arena, to better reflect the discrepancy between his personal life and how he portrays himself. In the original, Hegseth writes about the importance of “preventing divorce of parents with kids,” whereas in the revised version he stresses “preventing wanton divorce.”
A reliably MAGA voice throughout Trump’s first term, Hegseth even applauded Trump’s pardon of four military contractors who in 2017 killed 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians—something which he had privately lobbied for, as the Daily Beast reported the year prior.
And when it came time for Joe Biden’s inauguration, Hegseth said he was removed from guarding the event due to the National Guard’s objections to a cross-shaped chest tattoo that has roots in the crusades but has been adopted recently by right-wing extremists.
Fox News cheered Trump’s appointment in a statement, writing, “Pete Hegseth has been an exceptional host on FOX & Friends and FOX Nation and a best-selling author for FOX News Books for nearly a decade. His insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers and made the program the major success that it is today.”
“We are extremely proud of his work at FOX News Media and wish him the best of luck in Washington.”
Trump’s other personnel announcements Tuesday were less surprising.
His pick for CIA director is John Ratcliffe, who according to CNN had also been considered for the role of attorney general, which has yet to be decided.
The co-chair at the Trump-linked think tank Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute, Ratcliffe has experience in the first Trump administration, having served as director of national intelligence from May 2020 until the end of Trump’s term. Trump had initially intended on nominating him for that role a year earlier, but reversed course after lawmakers and the press questioned whether he exaggerated his resume regarding his role as federal prosecutor in Texas in the 2000s.
Before his stint as DNI director, Ratcliffe represented Texas’ fourth congressional district in the House.
Also on Tuesday, Trump chose William McGinley as his White House counsel. He too, has experience in a Trump White House, having been cabinet secretary from Trump’s inauguration until July 2019.
More recently, McGinley was outside counsel to a Republican National Committee election integrity team during the 2024 campaign. The former partner at Jones Day, McGinley was hired by the Trump campaign to handle the delegate process at the 2016 convention.
And for Middle East envoy, Trump chose someone who, like him, has a background in real estate: New York investor and landlord Steven Witkoff.
Witkoff, who spoke at the Republican National Convention and at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally late last month, “is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy, who has made every project and community he has been involved with stronger and more prosperous,” Trump’s statement read. “Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud.”
Witkoff is also co-chair of Trump’s inaugural committee.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump made another selection related to the Middle East: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel.
Among the roles Trump has not yet settled on is press secretary, though Mediaite reported Tuesday that Trump lawyer Alina Habba is a frontrunner for the spot.
