Pete Hegseth

Pete Hegseth was married to Meredith Schwarz from 2004 to 2009, to Samantha Deering from 2010 to 2017, and has been married to Jennifer Rauchet since 2019. He has four biological children with Deering and Rauchet, and is stepfather to Rauchet's three children from a previous marriage.

Hegseth met Rauchet through Fox News, where she worked as a producer on Fox & Friends Weekend. He and Rauchet had a child in 2017, before his divorce from Deering was finalized.

Hegseth graduated from Princeton University in 2003 with a degree in politics and later earned a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2013. At Princeton, he played basketball and served as publisher and editor-in-chief of The Princeton Tory, a conservative student newspaper.

After Princeton, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard. His military service included assignments at Guantánamo Bay, in Iraq with the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, and in Afghanistan, where he taught counterinsurgency tactics. He rose to the rank of major and received two Bronze Star Medals, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Expert Infantryman Badge, and other military awards.

In 2021, Hegseth was removed from a National Guard group assigned to provide security for Joe Biden's inauguration after a tattoo was flagged as a potential security concern. He later left the military.

After his first period of military service, Hegseth worked in veterans' advocacy and conservative politics. He became executive director of Vets for Freedom in 2007 and later led Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative veterans' advocacy organization. He left Concerned Veterans for America in 2016 after allegations concerning personal misconduct and financial management.

Hegseth ran in the 2012 Republican primary for a United States Senate seat representing Minnesota. He ended his campaign after Kurt Bills won the Republican Party's endorsement. Hegseth later developed a close political relationship with Donald Trump and was considered for positions in the first Trump administration.

Hegseth joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 and became a regular co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend in 2017. On the program, he became known for conservative views on military policy, nationalism, immigration, and American culture, as well as for his outspoken support of Donald Trump.

He also hosted programs and specials for Fox Nation, including Battle in the Holy Land, The Life of Jesus, and The Miseducation of America. In 2015, an errant ax throw during a Fox & Friends segment struck West Point drummer Jeffrey Prosperie. Prosperie later sued Hegseth, and the case was resolved in 2019.

Hegseth has written or co-written several books, including In the Arena: Good Citizens, a Great Republic, and How One Speech Can Reinvigorate America (2016), American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free (2020), Modern Warriors: Real Stories from Real Heroes (2021), Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation (2022), and The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free (2024). Several of his books reached The New York Times best-seller list.

His public positions include opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the military, criticism of NATO and military restrictions that he considers too limiting, and support for a stronger military focus on combat readiness. He also attracted attention for arguing that women should not serve in ground-combat roles, although during his confirmation process he said women would have access to those roles.

Donald Trump nominated Hegseth as secretary of defense in November 2024 after Hegseth ended his Fox News contract. His Senate confirmation hearing addressed his management experience, allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking, financial mismanagement, and his views on women in combat. Hegseth denied wrongdoing and said that he had changed through his Christian faith.

The Senate confirmed Hegseth in a 51-50 vote on January 24, 2025. All Democratic senators opposed him, while three Republicans, Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski, voted against confirmation. Vice President J.D. Vance cast the tie-breaking vote, and Hegseth was sworn in the following day.

As secretary, Hegseth identified restoring a warrior ethos, strengthening the defense industrial base, reducing bureaucracy, deterring China, defending the southern border, and ending wars responsibly as major priorities. His early tenure included reductions in planned defense spending, changes in senior military leadership, opposition to climate-related Pentagon initiatives, and efforts to end diversity programs.

In March 2025, Hegseth participated in a Signal group chat in which officials discussed operational details for planned U.S. strikes in Yemen. Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, had been accidentally added to the chat. Published messages included launch times for aircraft, drones, and missiles, while Hegseth maintained that no classified information had been shared.

A second Signal chat involving Hegseth, his wife, his brother, and his personal lawyer also became public. A Department of Defense inspector general investigation concluded that Hegseth had sent classified information through Signal and that the disclosures could have endangered U.S. troops. The incident became one of the defining controversies of his early tenure.