Pete Davidson is reclaiming his throne in Hollywood.
The King of Staten Island star made a rare public appearance Dec. 16, stepping out at a gala performance of All In: Comedy About Love By Simon…
David, the daughter of Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s Larry David, revealed a lot about her two-and-a-half year romance with Davidson in her 2020 book of essays, No One Asked For This. The couple first began dating in 2016, with David writing that they were “kindred spirits.” But she admitted Davidson’s mental health struggles had taken a toll on her.
“Previously, self-harm and suicide threats had come about from trivial circumstances, incidents that would go from 0 to 100, which were so momentarily urgent, like the last minute of an escape room before the time goes off, except I’m the only one in the room and all the clues are tricks,” she recalled. “Once he was back in a good headspace, I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to do it either; I was too mentally exhausted to do anything besides emotionally recover from the chaos of the week before.”
After she ended their relationship while on a family trip in 2018, David attempted to reconcile with Davidson in a moment of weakness. But she was shocked when he later sent her a text message to reveal he had moved on.
Two days later, she opened Instagram to see her ex had “uploaded a photo of himself with his hand covering his face to show off his new finger tattoos,” she wrote. “My name, which had been written in cursive across his ring finger, was now covered over with black ink.”
It’s not all about the Benjamins for Kenan Thompson.
The Saturday Night Live star—who joined the sketch show in 2003 and is the longest-tenured performer in its 50-year history—weighed in after Pete Davidson and other former cast members discussed their SNL salaries.
“It’s pretty notorious that it’s more so about having the job than getting paid for the job,” the comedian told Variety in an interview published Dec. 6. “You gotta pay your dues a little bit, yeah.”
In a recent video, several SNL alums including Pete, Jason Sudeikis, Seth Meyers, Cheri Oteri and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as current cast members Bowen Yang and James Austin Johnson, detailed their earnings from the late-night staple and how they spent their first paychecks.
“Do you guys know what they pay us?” Pete, who starred on the long-running series from 2014 to 2022, said in the clip posted on New York magazine’s Instagram account Dec. 4. “It’s like three grand an episode. I think I got dinner.”
Live From New York, it’s time to earn a paycheck.
Several of Saturday Night Live’s most iconic past and current cast members reflected on their time on the series, with a few, including Pete Davidson, revealing how they spent their first SNL paychecks.
Do you guys know what they pay us?” Pete, 31, who starred on eight seasons of the legendary comedy show before his 2022 departure, quipped to the camera in the video in honor of SNL’s 50th anniversary shared on the New York magazine Instagram account Dec. 4. “It’s like three grand an episode, so I think I got dinner.”
Pete wasn’t the only former cast member who kept it real about how far their payment went. Jason Sudeikis expressed similar sentiments about the amount, though he divulged his more practical expenditure. And also revealed that it wasn’t much money.
“I mean you don’t really make enough money to make big purchases,” the Ted Lasso star—who was on the cast for nine years and spent two years as a writer—revealed. “So, I think New York rent was probably the biggest purchase I made after writing on SNL the first year.”
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First came the raw shock of the nomination. A weekend host of a Fox News morning show to lead the Department of Defense, the largest employer in the United States? Really?
Then came a reminder that Pete Hegseth doesn’t think women should be in combat roles. And then a nudge to recall that the former National Guardsman thinks diversity and inclusion programs at the Pentagon spawn “wokeness” in the ranks. Then there were the stories about his past advocacy for people accused of war crimes despite opposition from those leading the Department of Defense at the time. And then the stories about his unit’s alleged involvement with war crimes. And his anti-Muslim rhetoric. And maybe a white-Christian-nationalism tattoo. And a flag based on that tattoo to his higher-ups in the military that he could be an “insider threat” who shouldn’t be let near high-pressure environments.
Fine, said the crew down at Mar-a-Lago, the de facto White House-in-waiting. Republicans close to the incoming Donald Trump Administration say the team heading back to Washington knew all of this before they nominated Hegseth as their pick to become the next Secretary of Defense and sixth in line for the presidency itself. Republicans in the Senate held steady, even if behind closed doors there was a sinking feeling that they were on a familiar rollercoaster.
But what caught the Trump team by surprise were the stories that came next. Hegseth is alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman at a Republican women’s conference in California. There is a police report. And there is a hush-money settlement. (Hegseth has denied the assault allegations, arguing the encounter was consensual, and noting the police did not charge him. He also has stood by both his political stances and the tattoo, which Hegseth said disqualified him from guarding President Joe Biden’s Inauguration despite being “just a Christian symbol.”)
Each story came out in recent days before reports surfaced that his own mother sent him a poison-pen email accusing him of being a serial abuser of women and something of a cad. And then there was the one about him as a bad steward of money raised by the powerful Koch network, a sexist bully, and a drunkard on the job who got canned. And the one that said he billed his wife’s credit card for hotel hookup venues. And the one that claimed his former Fox colleagues worried about his alcohol consumption.
All of which would probably block any other incoming administration’s pick for a receptionist—let alone a Secretary of Defense—from creeping forward. But this is Trump, and he likes to provoke. His top aides doubled-down on Tuesday despite some grumbling that this mightn’t be the best use of their political capital.
But here’s the thing about Trump: he’s loyal until he isn’t. Late Tuesday afternoon, it became clear the nomination was going wobbly in a big way. Hegseth can afford to lose three Republican Senators, and it looks like there may be a few more doubters than that. While plenty of lawmakers have taken the pro-Trump line, some like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are signaling a “difficult” path ahead. Sen. Joni Ernst, a retired Army Reservist from Iowa who serves on the Armed Services Committee, says she plans a “frank” conversation with Hegseth. The Chairman of that committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, said Hegseth will have to answer questions from his panel if he is going to weather the drip of negative stories. Some Republicans who have been inconsistent allies to Trump could break the nomination; many are watching Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Others are bracing for a whistleblower report and audit from Hegseth’s time running the Koch-backed veterans’ group.
Privately, Hill staffers are watching the nomination closely and with little certainty. Even as Trump’s team projected confidence, GOP leadership aides are increasingly skeptical. At least a half-dozen Republican Senators are seen as in play, according to three Hill aides.
This wouldn’t be Trump’s first Cabinet pick to go down. Trump really liked the idea of former Rep. Matt Gaetz to run the Department of Justice until it became clear he was going to be too much of a headache. The drip of bad news about Gaetz’s alleged sexual encounters with minors, drug use, and more—plus its dominance in the new cycle—proved too much for the President-elect. Trump can stand by someone as long as it doesn’t make him appear foolish; bad news is fine as long as it’s not new news to Number One. Crowding Trump off the front page is a fireable offense.
Gaetz’s downfall was the quickest exit of a Cabinet nomination in history so close to Election Day, rivaling a similar eight-day window that George W. Bush’s pick at Labor saw in 2000.
So far, Republicans who will control the confirmation—or not—of Trump’s Cabinet picks have largely held the line on Hegseth in a way they did not for Gaetz. But there are sufficient grumblings about moving forward with someone who has never before run something even comparable to the Pentagon to put the nomination in doubt. Senate Republicans fear Trump and his followers, but they also have to take a close eye on the person that will have Trump’s ear on major military action. There is a fine line between messy and untenable; Trump is testing it with Hegseth.
Democrats have, to this point, stepped aside and allowed Republicans to make trouble themselves. A favorite gif on the Hill since the nominations started has been some variation of someone watching with fascination as they toss popcorn in their mouths. Although Democrats won’t have a veto over Trump’s picks, they’re also not certain that they’re all going to get through. The chaos has already claimed Gaetz, and it, might soon be a fate shared by Hegseth or even Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick as the nation’s top spy master. Another pick raising eyebrows is Kash Patel, a former Hill hand who rose to become the Pentagon’s top aide during the first Trump term and is on deck to head the FBI. And of course there’s anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
For now, Trump’s team is telling allies to hold steady on the rest of the slate. Hegseth is on his version of a charm offensive with Hill offices, and many of the Republicans up there are signaling their fealty. “My position is what President Trump decides to do is what I will support,” Sen. Mike Crapo said when asked about the nominees going forward without so much as an FBI background check. (Since Crapo, an Idaho Republican, said this, the Trump campaign announced it would work with the feds on such vetting.)
And it’s worth remembering that for every moment of suspense when someone like Collins or Murkowski seems to balk at one of Trump’s moves, they were still more likely to side with Trump than not. Yet despite Trump’s strong support among the Senate’s rank and file, Hegseth still might be in trouble. Tuesday’s latest—that Hegseth billed hotels to his then-wife’s credit card while carrying out five affairs—further loosens his hold on the nomination. Trump loves to throw a surprise at his audience. He doesn’t like it the other way. Which may explain why some of his allies at the Capitol are not really investing their time preparing for Hegseth’s potential nomination hearing. Given just how messy the announced pick has been so far, that could be a waste of time. Washington is just watching for Trump to tire of this and move on to a different pick. Welcome to the Waiting Game, Trump’s Version.
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(SANTA CRUZ, Calif.) — A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report made public late Wednesday.
Hegseth, a former Fox News personality and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said.
News of the allegations surfaced last week when local officials released a brief statement confirming that a woman had accused Hegseth of sexual assault in October 2017 after he had spoken at a Republican women’s event in Monterey.
Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Palatore, said in a statement that the police report confirms “what I have said all along that the incident was fully investigated and police found the allegations to be false, which is why no charges were filed.”
Hegseth paid the woman in 2023 as part of a confidential settlement to head off the threat of what he described as a baseless lawsuit, Palatore has said.
The 22-page police report was released in response to a public records request and offers the first detailed account of what the woman alleged to have transpired — one that is at odds with Hegseth’s version of events. The report cited police interviews with the alleged victim, a nurse who treated her, a hotel staffer, another woman at the event and Hegseth.
The woman’s name was not released, and The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually assaulted.
Read More: Pete Hegseth’s Role in Trump’s Controversial Pardons of Men Accused of War Crimes
A spokeswoman for the Trump transition said early Thursday that the “report corroborates what Mr. Hegseth’s attorneys have said all along: the incident was fully investigated and no charges were filed because police found the allegations to be false.”
The report does not say that police found the allegations were false. Police recommended the case report be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review.
Investigators were first alerted to the alleged assault, the report said, by a nurse who called them after a patient requested a sexual assault exam. The patient told medical personnel she believed she was assaulted five days earlier but couldn’t remember much about what had happened. She reported something may have been slipped into her drink before ending up in the hotel room where she said the assault occurred.
Police collected the unwashed dress and underwear she had worn that night, the report said.
The woman’s partner, who was staying at the hotel with her, told police that he was worried about her that night after she didn’t come back to their room. At 2 a.m., he went to the hotel bar, but she wasn’t there. She made it back a few hours later, apologizing that she “must have fallen asleep.” A few days later, she told him she had been sexually assaulted.
The woman, who helped organize the California Federation of Republican Women gathering at which Hegseth spoke, told police that she had witnessed the TV anchor acting inappropriately throughout the night and saw him stroking multiple women’s thighs. She texted a friend that Hegseth was giving off a “creeper” vibe, according to the report.
After the event, the woman and others attended an afterparty in a hotel suite where she said she confronted Hegseth, telling him that she “did not appreciate how he treated women,” the report states.
A group of people, including Hegseth and the woman, decamped for the hotel’s bar. That’s when “things got fuzzy,” the woman told police.
She remembered having a drink at the bar with Hegseth and others, the police report states. She also told police that she argued with Hegseth near the hotel pool, an account that is supported by a hotel staffer who was sent to handle the disturbance and spoke to police, according to the report.
Soon, she told police, she was inside a hotel room with Hegseth, who took her phone and blocked the door with his body so that she could not leave, according to the report. She also told police she remembered “saying ‘no’ a lot,” the report said.
Her next memory was laying on a couch or bed with a bare-chested Hegseth hovering over her, his dog tags dangling, the report states. Hegseth served in the National Guard, rising to the rank of major.
After Hegseth finished, she recalled he threw a towel at her and asked if she was “OK,” the report states. She told police she did not recall how she got back to her own hotel room and had since suffered from nightmares and memory loss.
At the time of the alleged assault, Hegseth, now 44, was going through a divorce with his second wife, with whom he has three children. She filed for divorce after he had a child with a Fox News producer who is now his third wife, according to court records and social media posts by Hegseth. His first marriage ended in 2009, also after infidelity by Hegseth, according to court records.
Hegseth, who joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 before becoming co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” left the network after Trump announced his intention to nominate him.
Hegseth said he attended an after party and drank beer but did not consume liquor, and acknowledged being “buzzed” but not drunk.
He said he met the woman at the hotel bar, and she led him by the arm back to his hotel room, which surprised him because he initially had no intention of having sex with her, the report said.
Hegseth told investigators that the sexual encounter that followed was consensual, adding that he explicitly asked more than once if she was comfortable. Hegseth said in the morning the woman “showed early signs of regret,” and he assured her that he wouldn’t tell anyone about the encounter.
Hegseth’s attorney said a payment was made to the woman as part of a confidential settlement a few years after the police investigation because Hegseth was concerned that she was prepared to file a lawsuit that he feared could have resulted in him being fired from Fox News, where he was a popular host. The attorney would not reveal the amount of the payment.
___
Slodysko reported from Washington and Linderman from Baltimore.
Live from New York, it’s mom’s night out!
Pete Davidson enjoyed a mother-son outing with his mom Amy Waters Davidson in Brooklyn, where they sat front row to watch the Brooklyn Nets take on the Charlotte Hornets.
The duo was all smiles as they posed for photographers at the game. Pete donned a white beanie, a brown sweatshirt from Lehigh University and cuffed jeans, while his mom was chic in a black sweater, blue jeans and a classic quilted Chanel purse.
Amy shared the photo on Instagram, as well as a solo shot of Pete giving a thumbs up, and captioned it with the blue heart, basketball and heart-face emojis.
The mother of two celebrated Pete’s 31st birthday three days prior with a sweet Instagram tribute Nov. 16 that included a handful of throwback photos, including one of Pete as a baby being held by his late father Scott Davidson.
Jenn Tran & Devin Strader
Status: Split
During the season 21 finale of The Bachelorette, it looked like The Bachelor alum Jenn Tran was finally getting her happy ending with her final pick Devin Strader. But Jenn, 26, revealed on After the Final Rose back in September that Devin, 28, gave her the cold shoulder as soon as the cameras stopped rolling.
“He was making bold proclamations of love and then suddenly the next day he was like, nothing and he denied ever being in love,” Jenn told host Jesse Palmer during the Sept. 3 episode. “All the promises he had made to me, all of the love that he had wanted to give to me wasn’t there anymore.”
Drama continued to play out when Devin shared a 13-minute video recounting his side of the story to Instagram, where in addition to taking “accountability” he shared insight into why he ended the relationship in a 15-minute phone call.
While Jenn alleged he dumped her during the call in August, he claimed that Jenn demanded to know what was wrong as he tried to find a way to break the news in person.
“I didn’t really know what else to do,” he explained, noting he had been waiting to tell her in person. “She kind of forced my hand.”
Since then, Jenn waltzed over to Dancing With the Stars and possibly into the heart of her partner Sasha Farber as they have continued to spark romance rumors since their Oct. 29 elimination.
WASHINGTON — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit, according to Hegseth’s lawyer.
Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a speaking appearance at a Republican women’s event in Monterey, California, according to a statement released by the city. No charges were filed.
His lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, told the Associated Press on Sunday that the sexual encounter was consensual and that the woman who made the accusation to police several days later was the “aggressor.” That assertion has not been confirmed in the statement released by the city.
Parlatore said a payment was made to the woman as part of a confidential settlement a few years after the police investigation because Hegseth was concerned that she was prepared to file a lawsuit that he feared could have resulted in him being fired from Fox News, where he was a popular host. Parlatore would not reveal the amount of the payment.
“He was falsely accused and my position is that he was the victim of blackmail,” Parlatore said, calling it a case of “successful extortion.”
Read More: Pete Hegseth’s Role in Trump’s Controversial Pardons of Men Accused of War Crimes
The Washington Post earlier reported details of the payment. The newspaper also reported it obtained a copy of a memo sent to Trump’s transition team this past week by a woman who said she is a friend of the accuser that details the sexual assault allegations.
Trump’s transition team had no immediate comment Sunday on the memo.
The person who reported the assault—whose name, age and sex were not released—had bruises on the right thigh, according to the city’s statement. No weapons were involved in the encounter, the person told police.
The incident occurred sometime between 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 7 and 7 a.m. the following morning, according to the city’s statement.
Hegseth was in Monterey at the time to address the California Federation of Republican Women during a banquet dinner held at the group’s biennial convention, according to social media posts and promotional materials from the time.
Monterey officials said they were withholding further details included in the police report because it included analysis and conclusions by law enforcement officials that are exempt from release under state public records law.
At the time of the 2017 accusations, Hegseth, now 44, was going through a divorce with his second wife, with whom he has three children. She filed for divorce after he had a child with a Fox News producer who is now his wife, according to court records and social media posts by Hegseth. His first marriage ended in 2009, also after infidelity by Hegseth, according to court records.
After the accusations first surfaced last week, Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump transition who has been named White House communications director, issued a statement saying the President-elect is “nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration.”
“Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed. We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again,” Cheung said.
—Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
David, the daughter of Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s Larry David, revealed a lot about her two-and-a-half year romance with Davidson in her 2020 book of essays, No One Asked For This. The couple first began dating in 2016, with David writing that they were “kindred spirits.” But she admitted Davidson’s mental health struggles had taken a toll on her.
“Previously, self-harm and suicide threats had come about from trivial circumstances, incidents that would go from 0 to 100, which were so momentarily urgent, like the last minute of an escape room before the time goes off, except I’m the only one in the room and all the clues are tricks,” she recalled. “Once he was back in a good headspace, I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to do it either; I was too mentally exhausted to do anything besides emotionally recover from the chaos of the week before.”
After she ended their relationship while on a family trip in 2018, David attempted to reconcile with Davidson in a moment of weakness. But she was shocked when he later sent her a text message to reveal he had moved on.
Two days later, she opened Instagram to see her ex had “uploaded a photo of himself with his hand covering his face to show off his new finger tattoos,” she wrote. “My name, which had been written in cursive across his ring finger, was now covered over with black ink.”
President-elect of the United States of America (USA), Donald Trump, has appointed Pete Hegseth as the US Defence Secretary.
Trump nominated the 44-year-old Fox News host, to become his Secretary of Defense.
He stated, “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down. Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength policy“.
This move which will reportedly put Hegseth in charge of the world’s largest military and a $800 billion budget, does not sit well with some persons.
Mixed reactions have however trailed Hegseth’s appointment as people have pointed out that he has no government experience.
Hegseth’s appointment has also drawn swift condemnation from Trump’s opponents in Washington, with one veterans’ advocate describing him as ‘undoubtedly the least qualified nominee for Defense Secretary in history’.
While some Republican lawmakers have maintained a muted response to the announcement of Trump’s appointment of Hegseth as defence secretary, others pointed to his combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served as a captain in the Army National Guard and won two Bronze Stars.
Hegseth co-hosts Fox & Friends Weekend and was said to have become friends with Trump during the president-elect’s regular appearances on the show.
Alongside his combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hegseth served overseas in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch.
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military.
The news was met with bewilderment and worry among many in Washington as Trump passed on a number of established national security heavy-hitters and chose an Army National Guard captain well known in conservative circles as a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
While some Republican lawmakers had a muted response to the announcement, others called his combat experience an asset or said he was “tremendously capable.”
Hegseth’s choice could bring sweeping changes to the military. He has made it clear on his show and in interviews that, like Trump, he is opposed to “woke” programs that promote equity and inclusion. He also has questioned the role of women in combat and advocated pardoning service members charged with war crimes.
In June, at a rally in Las Vegas, Trump encouraged his supporters to buy Hegseth’s book and said that if he won the presidency, “The woke stuff will be gone within a period of 24 hours. I can tell you.”
Read More: Here Are the New Members of Trump’s Administration So Far
The 44-year-old Hegseth, a staunch conservative who embraces Trump’s “America First” policies, has pushed for making the military more lethal. During an interview on “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast, he said allowing women to serve in combat hurts that effort.
“Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, that means casualties are worse,” Hegseth said.
And while he said diversity in the military is a strength, he said it was because minority and white men can perform similarly but the same isn’t true for women.
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,” Hegseth said in the podcast interview.
Since then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter opened all combat roles to women in 2016, women have successfully passed the military’s grueling tests to become Green Berets and Army Rangers, and the Naval Special Warfare’s test to serve as a combatant-craft crewman — the boat operators who transport Navy SEALs and conduct their own classified missions at sea.
While Trump lauded Hegseth as “tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” others were quick to point to the TV personality’s lack of experience. Some suggested he could be Pentagon chief in name only as the Trump White House runs the department.
A number of other names floated as possible defense choices had included Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg; Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; and Robert Wilkie, a former Pentagon official who was head of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Trump’s first term.
“There is reason for concern that this is not a person who is a serious enough policymaker, serious enough policy implementer, to do a successful job,” said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.
Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Hegseth’s lack of senior national security experience makes it more difficult to get Senate confirmation.
“I think Trump was tired of fighting with his secretaries of defense and picked one who would be loyal to him,” Cancian said.
Military officials said the choice came out of the blue. A senior military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said Hegseth’s selection is raising concerns about whether he has the practical experience to manage a large department with an enormous budget.
The Defense Department has a budget exceeding $800 billion, with about 1.3 million active-duty troops and another 1.4 million in the National Guard, Reserves and civilian employees based worldwide.
If confirmed, Hegseth would face a daunting array of global crises, from the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and the expanding alliance between Russia and North Korea to the growing competition with China. There is also the need to upgrade the complex U.S. missile and nuclear defense apparatus and ensure the defense industry can keep up with America’s need for weapons systems.
Smith said that while Hegseth’s combat experience is a plus, running the Pentagon requires a lot of other skill sets, and his nomination will need some time for consideration.
“What’s your plan? What are you going to do? … How can you assure us that that lack of experience, you know, isn’t going to make it impossible for you to do the job?” Smith said. “I think those are questions that need to be answered over the next couple of months.”
Even some Republicans in the Senate, who would vote on his nomination, had a subdued response.
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis called the choice “interesting.” Indiana Sen. Todd Young, who served in the Marine Corps, said, “I don’t know much about his background or his vision, so I look forward to learning more.”
North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said he’s not surprised that Trump chose Hegseth because Trump is “close to him and likes him and trusts him.”
“The guy’s obviously tremendously capable, a great communicator,” Hoeven said. “I look forward to getting to know him better.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Hegseth brings a lot to the table and will be “reform-minded in the areas that need reform.”
Hegseth has been a contributor since 2014 for Fox News, developing a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on his show. He is the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.”
“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.”
In picking Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, President-elect Donald Trump has selected a military veteran and popular conservative media personality with a large following of his own.
Read More: Here Are the New Members of Trump’s Administration So Far
Hegseth, 44, has developed a close rapport with Trump, who also reportedly considered him for a post in his first administration. Hegseth has lobbied Trump to release service members accused of war crimes.
Here are a few things to know about Hegseth.
Co-host of Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends Weekend, Hegseth has been a contributor 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 “insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers.”
He’s also written a number of books, several for the network’s publishing imprint, including The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free. In announcing Hegseth’s nomination, Trump complimented that book, noting its “nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.”
Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior 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 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. 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.
As Trump formulated his first Cabinet following his 2016 win, he reportedly considered Hegseth to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. He again considered Hegseth when Secretary David Shulkin faced criticism before his ouster in 2018.
In 2019, Hegseth urged Trump to pardon U.S. service members who had been accused of war crimes. He advocated for the servicemen’s cases on his show and online, interviewing relatives on Fox News. He posted on social media that pardons from Trump “would be amazing,” and added hashtags with the names of those accused to reporting mentioning his private lobbying of the then-President.
The effort was successful, with Trump that year pardoning a former U.S. Army commando set to stand trial in the killing of a suspected Afghan bomb-maker, as well as a former Army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to fire upon three Afghans, killing two. Trump also ordered a promotion for a decorated Navy SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State captive in Iraq.
Hegseth would lead the Pentagon with burgeoning conflicts on multiple fronts, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies, the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah, and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea.
While the Pentagon is considered a key job in any administration, defense secretary was a tumultuous post during Trump’s first term. Five men 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 simply interpret presidential tweets and pronouncements that blindsided them with abrupt policy decisions they weren’t prepared to explain or defend.
Many of the generals who worked in his first administration—both on active duty and retired—have slammed him as unfit to serve in the Oval Office. He has condemned them in return.
—Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina. Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.
Pete Davidson is the king of tattoo removal.
The SNL alum stepped out alongside his longtime pal Machine Gun Kelly for the sneak preview of The Room at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles amid undergoing the process of having his ink removed—and the results of the treatment are jaw-dropping.
In a photo from the Oct. 23 outing, Pete posed next to the “Lonely Road” artist while wearing cargo pants and a red Fire Department of New York T-shirt, which showed off his practically bare forearms. The clean look was a noticeable transformation from his previous appearance, which included dozens of small tattoos in black ink up and down both of his arms.
And that’s not the only reason his attire for the event was significant. The King of Staten Island star’s FDNY shirt was also a heartwarming nod to his late father, Scott Matthew Davidson, who died on September 11, 2001, as a first responder at the Twin Towers.
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