While choosing Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth Leading the Ministry of DefensePresident-elect Donald Trump chose a former military and popular conservative media personality with his own large following.

Hegseth, 44, has developed a close relationship with Trump, who is reportedly considering him for a post in his first administration. Hegseth lobbied Trump to release soldiers accused of war crimes.

Here are a few things you need to know about Hegseth.

He is a Fox News personality and author

Hegseth, a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend,” has been a contributor to the network for a decade. He developed a friendship with Trump thanks to the president-elect’s regular appearances on the show. In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson complimented Hegseth’s military knowledge, saying her “insights and analysis, especially regarding the military, resonate deeply with our viewers.”

He has also written a number of books, including several for the network’s publishing house; these include “War Against the Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Kept Us Free.” Trump complimented the book when announcing Hegseth’s candidacy, noting that the book “spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.”

He’s a military veteran

Hegseth served in the military despite having no high-level military or national security experience.

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

He was formerly president of Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and also ran unsuccessfully for Senate in Minnesota in 2012. He has a master’s degree in public policy, according to his Fox News bio. Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.

As Trump forms his first cabinet following his victory in 2016, Hegseth is reportedly considering running the Department of Veterans Affairs. When Secretary David Shulkin faced criticism before his ouster in 2018, he thought back to Hegseth.

He defended soldiers accused of war crimes

In 2019, Hegseth called on Trump to pardon US soldiers accused of war crimes. He advocated for soldiers’ causes on his show and online, interviewing relatives on Fox News. He shared on social media that Trump’s pardon “would be surprising” and added hashtags with the names of those accused to news stories mentioning private lobbying efforts against the then-president.

The effort was successful, with Trump’s pardon that year A former U.S. Army commando will stand trial in the killings of a suspected Afghan bomb maker and a former Army lieutenant who was convicted of murder after he ordered his men to shoot at three Afghans, killing two of them. Trump also ordered a promotion for a Navy SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State prisoner in Iraq.

He would come to work during a series of global crises

Hegseth will lead the Pentagon through evolving conflicts on multiple fronts, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, ongoing attacks by Iranian proxies in the Middle East, pressures for ceasefires between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah, and growing concerns about the growing alliance. Between Russia and North Korea.

While the Pentagon is considered a key post in every administration, the defense department was a tumultuous post during Trump’s first term. Five people have held the job during Trump’s four years.

In those years, Trump’s relationship with his civilian and military leaders was fraught with tension, confusion, and frustration; because they were trying to soften or even simply interpret presidential tweets and statements that blindsided them with sudden policy decisions they were not prepared to explain or defend.

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

___

Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

___

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