Who is Pete Hegseth? The Trump official testifying in Congress
The 45-year-old will face questions from Congress for the first time since he was appointed defence secretary. But why is he considered so controversial?
Tuesday 10 June 2025 17:23, UK
Donald Trump's defence secretary Pete Hegseth is facing questions from members of Congress in a series of hearings on Capitol Hill.
It will be the first time the 45-year-old has testified to Congress since he narrowly scraped the US military's top job earlier this year.
He is scheduled to speak in front of what is known as a House Appropriations subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the defence department's budget.
However, he could also be quizzed on a range of subjects including the immigration raid protests currently ongoing in Los Angeles and his use of the unclassified Signal messaging app.
During his first five months in office Mr Hegseth has promoted the social changes he's making at the Pentagon but has been far less visible in the administration's international security crises and negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and Iran.
So, who exactly is Mr Hegseth and why has he proved to be such a controversial figure?
Who is Pete Hegseth?
Mr Hegseth is a veteran of the Army National Guard who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and before his appointment by Mr Trump, was a popular conservative media personality.
After graduating from Princeton University in 2003, Mr Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard, serving overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay.
He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and also unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012.
He later became co-host of the Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends Weekend programme, contributing to the network for a decade.
He developed a friendship with Mr Trump through the businessman-turned-politician's regular appearances on the show.
Mr Hegseth has also written several books, some for Fox's publishing imprint, including The War On Warriors.
Mr Trump complimented that book when announcing Mr Hegseth's nomination, noting its "nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE".
According to his Fox News bio, he has a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
With no experience in senior military or national security, his critics have argued he is not qualified for the defence secretary role.
Controversial military takes
While in office he has posted numerous videos of his morning workouts with troops or of himself signing directives aimed at purging diversity and equity programmes.
In his most recent book - The War On Warriors: Behind The Betrayal Of The Men Who Keep Us Free - Mr Hegseth mocked and misgendered transgender servicemembers and said the military was turning off recruits.
He has also questioned the role of women in combat.
In an interview on The Shawn Ryan Show podcast last year, he said: "Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat means casualties are worse.
He argued that by opening combat slots to women, "we've changed the standards in putting them there, which means you've changed the capability of that unit".
All combat roles were opened to women for the first time in US history in 2016, and they have to pass the same tests as men to serve.
Mr Hegseth has also defended service members accused of war crimes, urging Mr Trump on his show in 2019 to pardon many of them.
His efforts were successful, with Mr Trump that year pardoning a former US Army commando set to stand trial for the killing of a suspected Afghan bomb-maker and a former Army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to fire upon three Afghans, killing two.
He also ordered a promotion for a decorated Navy SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State captive in Iraq.
Sexual assault allegations from 2017
A police report released in November detailed how Mr Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017 - but was never charged.
Before the report was released, Mr Hegseth confirmed he had paid an undisclosed amount as part of a settlement with his accuser.
The police documents detailing the allegations showed that a woman told police she was sexually assaulted by Mr Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a hotel room and refused to let her leave.
The report said the unidentified woman, referred to as "Jane Doe", met Mr Hegseth in 2017 at a hotel where he was speaking in Monterey, California.
He told police at the time the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing, according to the report released by the Monterey Police Department.
His lawyer, Timothy Palatore, said in a statement that the police report confirmed the incident was fully investigated and police found the allegations "to be false, which is why no charges were filed".
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Other allegations before his appointment
Critics of Mr Hegseth also pointed to claims of excessive drinking, financial mismanagement and improper behaviour before his appointment as defence secretary.
An article in the New Yorker magazine reported the allegations led to him quitting leadership roles in two non-profit organisations for military veterans.
It suggested that whistleblowers claimed a drunken Mr Hegseth had to be held back from joining strippers on stage in a Louisiana club and, in an Ohio bar in 2014, chanted "kill all Muslims, kill all Muslims."
Separately, the New York Times published a 2018 email from Mr Hegseth's mother to him in which she calls him an abuser of women and tells him to "take an honest look at yourself".
When later asked about the email, she withdrew the remarks and said she had sent her son a follow-up email to apologise.
Sky News questioned Mr Hegseth on the allegations in December, but he refused to respond.
Why did Trump hire him?
Many of Mr Hegseth's views align with Mr Trump's.
Like the president, he espouses a traditional view of masculinity, writing that men are innately drawn to fight, compete and prove their strength.
Also like Mr Trump, he has been sharply critical of NATO allies who he says are not spending enough on defence, calling them "self-righteous and impotent nations asking us to honour outdated and one-sided defence arrangements they no longer live up to".
Naming him as his choice for defence secretary, Mr Trump described him as "tough, smart and a true believer in America First... our military will be great again, and America will never back down".
Confirmation a close call
Mr Hegseth is the most divisive candidate to clinch the US military's top job, getting in on the vice president's 51-50 tie-breaking vote.
For comparison, former president Joe Biden's defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, was confirmed by a 93-2 vote in 2021, and Jim Mattis, Mr Trump's first defence secretary in his last administration, was confirmed by a 98-1 vote in 2017.
Three Republican senators - Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - joined Democrats to oppose Mr Hegseth's nomination.
During the confirmation hearing, which was disrupted by three protesters, Mr Hegseth was accused of lacking the competence for the job.
Hours before the vote, Democrat after Democrat took to the Senate floor to object.
But most Senate Republicans fell into line to defend Mr Hegseth.
Senate majority leader John Thune said Mr Hegseth would "bring a warrior's perspective" to the post thanks to his military experience.
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the armed services committee, however, said in a statement he would watch the new defence secretary "like a hawk" and "demand accountability".
Trump fires top US military officers
The president and his defence secretary carried out an unprecedented purge of top military figures in the Pentagon in February, sacking America's most senior commander and five other admirals and generals.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Charles 'CQ' Brown - America's highest-ranking general and only the second black general to serve as chairman - was fired with immediate effect.
Mr Hegseth had questioned whether General Brown would have got the job if he were not black.
The president also replaced the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service, and the Air Force vice chief of staff.
He also removed the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force, critical positions that ensure enforcement of military justice.
War group chat with journalist puts Hegseth in hot water
Mr Hegseth was put into the spotlight back in March after journalist and editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat where he shared details about military strikes and critiqued Europe.
in an article for The Atlantic that Mr Hegseth posted operational details of the plan, including weapon packages, targets and timing, in the group chat - which included vice president JD Vance and other officials.
Former national security adviser Mike Waltz took responsibility for the gaffe, and subsequently left his role, but Mr Hegseth was roundly criticised for sharing the classified details and faced calls for him to resign.
Matters were seemingly made worse for Mr Hegseth when he was linked to a second group chat on Signal, again understood to have contained details of military operations in Yemen.
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Two sources with knowledge of the matter that Mr Hegseth's wife Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil, who is a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser, were on the group.