gotchanewsdaily.com 
CNN
—
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and Army veteran, to serve as his secretary of defense.
“Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country,” Trump said in a Tuesday statement announcing the selection. “Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”
Hegseth has a long record in the military, serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He has also acted as an informal adviser to Trump for a number of years while he was in and out of office, Trump advisers told CNN. While Hegseth was considered for a number of positions in Trump’s first administration, he was ultimately passed over, they said.
The president-elect is known to value how his message is delivered to television audiences, and the selection elevates the TV personality to a critical role in Trump’s second administration. Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida had been floated for the job, but Trump has since asked him to serve as his national security adviser.
Hegseth started with Fox News as a contributor in 2014 and was named the co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend” in 2017. Hegseth’s deal with the network ended Tuesday, Fox News said.
“His insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers and made the program the major success that it is today,” Fox News said in a statement. “We are extremely proud of his work at FOX News Media and wish him the best of luck in Washington.”
The Princeton and Harvard grad also served as CEO for veterans advocacy organization Concerned Veterans for America and holds two Bronze Stars, according to Simon & Schuster, the company that published his 2017 book “In the Arena.”
CNN reported in 2019 that Hegseth, while working at Fox News, privately encouraged Trump to pardon some United States servicemen accused of war crimes. Trump went on to pardon two service members and restore the rank of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who had been demoted. The controversial move went against the advice of then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other senior military leaders who had told Trump that a presidential pardon could potentially damage the integrity of the military judicial system.
Trump has suggested his national security team would be tasked with reassessing the United States’ posture toward Ukraine and Russia, China, Iran, and the simmering conflict in the Middle East. He has also said he regretted many of the people he put in senior roles when he won the White House in 2016 and was upset with officials who tried to thwart his often-impulsive demands and desires.
Hegseth, who has remained close to Trump, is set to take over a position that has produced military officials critical of the president-elect.
Esper, who served for multiple years as Trump’s defense secretary before being fired shortly before Trump left office, said earlier this year the former president should not be trusted with the nation’s secrets again should the allegations made in his federal indictment over his handling of classified documents prove true. A federal judge dismissed that case in a surprise decision in July.
Gen. Jim Mattis, who served as Trump’s first defense secretary, told journalist Bob Woodward that he agreed with Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, who called the former president “a fascist to the core,” Woodward said last month on “The Bulwark” podcast. Mattis, in a surprise move, resigned in 2018 as Trump planned to withdraw troops from Syria, citing irreconcilable policy differences.
CNN reported last week that Pentagon officials have been gaming out various scenarios as they prepare for an overhaul of the Defense Department under Trump. The president-elect has suggested he would be open to using active-duty forces for domestic law enforcement and mass deportations. He has also indicated he wants to stack the federal government with loyalists and “clean out corrupt actors” in the US national security establishment.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Brian Stelter, Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky Jeremy Herb, Kayla Tausche, Evan Perez and Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.
