Trump taps Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary
President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense, the former president announced Tuesday night.
Hegseth, 44, is an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has an undergraduate degree from Princeton and a master's degree from Harvard.
"I am honored to announce that I have nominated Pete Hegseth to serve in my Cabinet as The Secretary of Defense," Trump said in a statement Tuesday night. "Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country. 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 joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 and became a co-host of "Fox & Friends Weekends."
He is the author of the recent book "The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free," a New York Times bestseller, in which he denounces what he calls the "warped, woke, and caustic policies of our current military."
He previously served as head of Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch.
In 2012, Hegseth ran for Senate as a Republican in his home state of Minnesota but withdrew from the race following the state convention. Kurt Bills, a state representative, won the GOP nomination but lost in the general election to Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Hegseth has "an excellent background as a junior officer but does not have the senior national security experience that secretaries need," Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Associated Press, adding that the lack of experience might make it more difficult for Hegseth to get through Senate confirmation.
Asked about the choice Tuesday night, Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst told CBS News that Hegseth is "going to be a very strong secretary."
But first reactions from other GOP senators varied.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama was asked what he thought and responded, "I'd have to think about it."
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina called the choice "interesting," while Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said he doesn't have "a sense of his background."
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska learned about the selection from a reporter and responded, "Wow." Asked if it was a good choice, she said, "I'm just surprised. I'm not going to comment whether it's good, bad or indifferent. I'm just surprised because the names that I've heard for secretary of defense have not included him."
As for whether he would be hard to confirm, Mukowski said, "I don't know."