Trump to nominate Pete Hegseth, Fox News host and Army Guard vet, for defense secretary

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said today he intends to nominate Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth as his secretary of defense, one of the most powerful positions in the incoming administration.

“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 in a statement.

Hegseth, currently a co-host of Fox News’s “Fox & Friends Weekend”, was an infantry captain in the Army National Guard and served in Afghanistan, Iraq and at the US outpost in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according his Fox News biography. During his service he was awarded two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantry Badge, the bio says.

Hegseth is the author of several books, the most recent of which, “The War on Warriors”, extolled the “kind of men prepared to face the dangers that the Left pretends don’t exist,” according to a Fox News summary.

In his statement, Trump said the Princeton graduate “will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”

The Hegseth announcement is the latest in a string of Trump proclamations and news reports concerning senior officials he plans to bring into his administration. Earlier today Trump said he wanted John Ratcliffe, who served during Trump’s first term as the Director of National Intelligence, to lead the CIA and Rep. Tim Waltz, a Republican from Florida, was tapped to be White House national security advisor.

More from the Trump transition:

Waltz in as Trump’s national security advisor
Trump admin will bring ‘uncertainty,’ opportunities for defense industry: Analysts
Trump’s defense secretary should focus on internal Pentagon challenges to meet external threats