Quick Info→
Age: 44 Years
Wife: Jennifer Rauchet
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Some of the Lesser Known Facts About Pete Hegseth
- During his undergraduate days at Princeton University, he participated in conservative and Republican politics.
- In 2004, he joined the New Jersey National Guard as an infantry platoon leader (Joint Task Force-Guantanamo) in Cuba and worked until 2005.
- In 2004, he joined Bear Stearns Companies as an equity capital markets analyst and worked until 2006.
- In 2005, he joined the 101st Airborne Division in the U.S. Army in Iraq as an infantry platoon leader and civil-military operations officer and served until 2006.
A still of Pete Hegseth during his duty in Iraq
- In 2007, he worked as a policy specialist at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
- In May 2007, he joined Vets for Freedom as an executive director and worked until June 2012.
- In 2008, he joined National Review as a contributor (NRO) and worked until 2016.
- In June 2011, he joined the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) in Kabul, Afghanistan as a senior counterinsurgency instructor and worked until March 2012.
- In 2011, he joined the Center of the American Experiment as a senior fellow and worked until 2015.
- In July 2012, he joined Concerned Veterans for America as a CEO and worked until December 2015.
- In August 2013, he joined The Blaze as a real news contributor in New York and worked until February 2013.
- In 2014, he joined Fox News as a contributor.
- By 2016, he was promoted to the rank of major and was posted to the Army Individual Ready Resereve.
- Prior to the selection of David Shulkin in 2017, he was supposed to lead the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in the first administration of Donald Trump.
- In 2017, he started hosting the chat show Fox & Friends, which aired on Fox News.
A still of Pete Hegseth from the chat show Fox & Friends Weekend (2023)
- In December 2018, he appeared as a co-host on the TV show All American New Year, which aired on Fox News.
- He appeared on the TV show Unfiltered with Dan Bongino (2021-2023) as a guest, which aired on Fox News.
- Thereafter, he appeared on various news channels as a TV presenter such as CNN and MSNBC.
- In 2012, he was nominated for the U.S. Senate seat from the Republican party.
- On 14 June 2015, while filming a live TV segment in honour of Flag Day he threw an axe accidentally at a West Point drummer. Later, the drummer reported he had minor injuries.
- In 2016, he became a strong supporter and advisor of Donald Trump.
Pete Hegseth with Donald Trump
- Before supporting Donald Trump, he backed Marco Rubio and later Ted Cruz during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries.
- In 2018, he started working as a public speaker at Premiere Speakers Bureau in Nashville, Tennessee.
- In 2020, he was part of one of the up-to-25,000 National Guard troops run by the Pentagon. Later, he was removed from the mission to protect the inauguration of President Joe Biden as he was found linked to right-wing militia groups and posted extremist views online. Thereafter, Hegseth claimed that he was removed from the mission for having a Jerusalem Cross tattoo.
- Some of the books that he has written are American Crusade (2020), 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).
Pete Hegseth holding his book American Crusade (2020)
- He knows horse riding.
Pete Hegseth riding a horse with his family
- In November 2024, he was nominated by Donald Trump for Secretary of Defense.
