Trump builds out national security team with Pete Hegseth

President-elect Donald Trump moved to build out his national security team Tuesday, announcing he is nominating Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary.

Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show.

Hegseth was an infantry captain in the Army National Guard and served overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and he unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012.

“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” Trump said in a statement. “Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”

During his appearance on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH in May, Hegseth spoke about protests on college campuses and his book “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.”

“When you look at the Pentagon, it’s more of a 2025-year conversation,” Hegseth said. “And yes, they have steered the ship in an unfortunate direction, but it’s a shallow takeover, meaning a new commander in chief, new political new military leadership and a new crop of recruits, could really reorient in our institution, whose DNA is not about what the left is selling.”

President-elect Donald Trump also said on Tuesday Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” — which is not, despite the name, a government agency.

The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said in a statement that Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.”

He added that the move would shock government systems.

Contributing: The Associated Press and Jason Rantz, KTTH