WASHINGTON — 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, and has an undergraduate degree from Princeton and a graduate 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 is a co-anchor of "Fox & Friends Weekends" and author of the book "The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free."
In 2012, he ran for Senate as a Republican, aiming to unseat Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat. In May 2012, he withdrew from the race following the state convention. Kurt Bills, a state representative, won the GOP nomination but lost in the general election.
