Who is Pete Hegseth? Minnesotan tapped to be next Secretary of Defense

[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: Our top story this afternoon, President-elect Trump has nominated Fox News personality and Minnesota native Pete Hegseth to be his Defense Secretary. Hegseth has been a vocal backer of President Trump throughout the campaign and had been considered for cabinet positions during Trump's first term in office. Hegseth has portrayed himself as a rock-ribbed conservative and has made some controversial statements during his time as Fox News host. Here's Hegseth suggesting women should not serve in combat roles.

PETE HEGSETH: I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. We've all served with women, and they're great. Our institutions don't have to incentivize that in places where traditionally-- not traditionally, over human history, men in those positions are more capable.

NINA MOINI: Those comments were made just within the past week. Now, Hegseth's nomination isn't going to be a slam dunk. In 2018, Hegseth was under consideration to be Secretary of Veteran Affairs. At the time, Tom Scheck with APM Reports did a profile of Hegseth. He joins us now to talk about Hegseth. Tom, thank you for being here. Can you give us a brief history of Hegseth before he joined Fox News?

TOM SCHECK: Well, sure. First off, Hegseth graduated from Forest Lake High School in 1998. He was the valedictorian that year. He then attended Princeton, where he served in the ROTC and he wrote for a conservative publication. And then after he graduated from Princeton in 2003, Hegseth enlisted in the Army. He served in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq, and Afghanistan. And then he also formed a nonprofit in 2006 that advocated for increasing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. And then later on, he was hired as an executive director of Concerned Veterans for America.

NINA MOINI: OK, so you've dug into his work as a manager in both of those roles. And what did you find?

TOM SCHECK: Well, we learned that he had two extramarital affairs with subordinates in different roles. In both of those instances, his first two marriages ended in divorce. He's now on his third marriage. And as a nonprofit executive, Hegseth also hired his brother straight out of college for a $108,000 media relations position. Now, this hiring isn't illegal. But ethics experts always discourage it because it can lead to conflicts of interest, murky lines of reporting, and also workplace morale problems.

Now, both of these matters, as we know, may be an issue in a nomination hearing, especially since President-elect Trump has been criticized for infidelity and for hiring his daughter and son-in-law when he was operating the White House in his first term. Now, Democrats are certain to bring up both of these issues if Hegseth is nominated and there's a hearing.

NINA MOINI: So since he is nominated to run the Department of Defense, can you outline his military background and his philosophy?

TOM SCHECK: Well, sure. His military records show that he served with distinction and earned two bronze stars during his service. He's also been a vocal backer of a troop surge in Iraq and Afghanistan at the end of George W. Bush's presidency. Now, that was an unpopular stance at the time, as most of us know. He's also been a vocal backer of veterans. He's written books calling for ending what he called "wokeness" in the military. And he also wrote a book on what he called the modern heroes of the American military.

There are some other things that are also an issue. One thing he's advocated for was increasing private health insurance for veterans, which some say would pull money out of the VA hospital system. That's controversial. And Hegseth also reportedly encouraged President Trump during Trump's first term to pardon several servicemen who were accused of war crimes.

NINA MOINI: And where has he stood politically?

TOM SCHECK: Well, his views shifted over the 20 years. In 2012, he was considered more of a mainstream candidate during his brief Senate campaign, when Amy Klobuchar was running for re-election. And he also criticized then presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2015 for his plan on veterans. And at the time, he backed Florida Senator Marco Rubio and then later Texas Senator Ted Cruz for president in 2016.

But then he later shifted his support for President Trump, calling it a conversion moment. At the time, he said, quote, "The final defensive line for America was Donald Trump." And then since then, Pete Hegseth has interviewed Trump several times as part of his job on Fox News. He visited the White House to meet with Trump and has been a vocal Trump backer since the president has been in office and then when he left office and ran for re-election.

NINA MOINI: So, Tom, what do you think the chances are that he's confirmed?

TOM SCHECK: Well, it's really tough to say because the makeup of the Senate has changed so dramatically since 2018. There was a lot of concern over his potential nomination for VA Secretary at the time because Pete Hegseth criticized two high-ranking Republican senators during Trump's first term. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was in his crosshairs for spending the budget too much. And then Johnny Isakson, who chaired the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, was also criticized by Hegseth.

Isakson has retired since then. And McConnell is leaving his leadership position. Now, many of us know that the party is turning and becoming more in the model of President Trump. A lot of folks are following him more often. And so those changes, along with Trump's increasing power in the Republican-controlled Senate, could give Hegseth a clear path to the nomination. But I can tell you that some Democrats are raising concerns about this. And they're going to try and bring up a lot of these issues as well.

NINA MOINI: Tom, thanks so much for that background and sharing your reporting with us.

TOM SCHECK: Thank you.

NINA MOINI: That was Tom Scheck with APM Reports. We reached out to Hegseth for comment. He did not reply. We also reached out to Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, both Democrats. Both did not provide comment in time for this interview.