President-elect Donald Trump defended his nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Defense after uncharged allegations of sexual assault.
Trump nominated Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth to serve as Defense secretary, one the most important cabinet positions with responsibility for the largest and most complex federal agency with an annual budget of $840 billion and 3.4 million military and civilian employees.
Hegseth, 44, faces scrutiny over a 2017 sexual encounter in which a woman told police the former Fox News anchor blocked the door of a hotel room in California and sexually assaulted her. Hegseth has denied the allegation and said that the encounter was consensual. The woman reported the allegations to local police. Hegseth was never charged with a crime. He reached an undisclosed settlement with the woman in 2023.
In a second matter, Hegseth’s mother, Penelope, castigated her son for “abusive behavior” toward women for years in a 2018 email that the New York Times published last week. She has since apologized to her son and called publication of the email “disgusting.”
On Friday, Trump again defended Hegseth.
“Pete Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He was a great student – Princeton/Harvard educated – with a Military state of mind.”
Hegseth was an infantry officer in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021. He graduated from Princeton University in 2003. He was later commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard. He served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay. He left with the rank of major, according to the Army National Guard. Hegseth earned two Bronze Stars, two Army Commendation Medals and the National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Service Star, among others.
“He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense, one who leads with charisma and skill,” Trump said. “Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!”
On Tuesday, Hegseth defended himself in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal.
“Talk to those who served with me in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan or the National Guard. They support me, and I’m honored by that,” he wrote. “I have never backed down from a fight and won’t back down from this one. I am grateful President-elect Trump chose me to lead the Defense Department, and I look forward to an honest confirmation hearing with our distinguished senators –not a show trial in the press.”
Trump’s nomination of Hegseth must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, where Republicans have a narrow majority.
