In choosing Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of DefensePresident-elect Donald Trump has tapped a military veteran and popular conservative media personality with a huge following.

Hegseth, 44, developed a close relationship with Trump, who also considered him for a post in his first administration. Hegseth lobbied Trump to release service members accused of war crimes.

Here are some things to know about Hegseth.

He is a Fox News personality and author

Co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Hegseth has contributed to the network for a decade. He developed a friendship with Trump through the president-elect’s regular appearances on the show. In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson complimented Hegseth’s military knowledge, saying his “perspectives and analysis, particularly on the military, resonated deeply with our viewers.”

He has also written a number of books, several for the network’s imprint, including The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Make Us Free. Announcing Hegseth’s nomination, Trump complimented the book, noting its “nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.”

He is a military veteran

Hegseth has served in the military, though he lacks high-ranking military or national security experience.

After graduating from Princeton University in 2003, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry captain in the Army National Guard, serving overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as at Guantanamo Bay.

He previously served as head of Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and also ran unsuccessfully for the Minnesota Senate in 2012. According to his Fox News bio, he has a master’s degree in politics from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

As Trump formulated his first cabinet after his 2016 victory, he tapped Hegseth to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. He considered Hegseth again when Secretary David Shulkin faced criticism before his ouster in 2018.

Defended service members accused of war crimes

In 2019, Hegseth urged Trump to pardon members of the US military who have been accused of war crimes. He has advocated for servicemen’s cases on his show and online, interviewing relatives on Fox News. He posted on social media that Trump pardons “would be amazing” and added hashtags with the names of those accused of reporting mentioning his private lobbying of the then-president.

The effort was successful. with Trump that year pardoning a former US army commando was tried for the killing of an alleged Afghan bomb maker, as well as a former army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering men to fire on three Afghans, killing two. Trump also ordered a promotion for a decorated Navy SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State prisoner in Iraq.

He will come to work during a series of global crises

Hegseth will lead the Pentagon amid burgeoning conflicts on several fronts, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies, the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah, and growing worries about the alliance growing. between Russia and North Korea.

While the Pentagon is considered a key job in any administration, the secretary of defense has been a tumultuous post during Trump’s first term. Five men have held the job during Trump’s four years.

Trump’s relationship with his civilian and military leaders during those years was fraught with tension, confusion and frustration as they struggled to temper or even interpret the presidential tweets and statements that blindsided them with abrupt policy decisions they did not they were prepared to explain or defend them.

Many of the generals who served in his first administration — both active duty and retired — criticized him as unfit to serve in the Oval Office. He condemned them instead.

___

Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP