Pete Hegseth Biography
Pete Hegseth is an American anchor, author and Army National Guard officer working for FOX NEWS as a co-host of FOX News Channel’s (FNC) FOX & Friends Weekend on weekends at 6-10 AM/ET. He joined the FOX news team in 2014, after previously working for Concerned Veterans for America.
Pete Hegseth Career
Hegseth graduated from Forest Lake Area High School and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 2003. In 2013, he furthered his education by obtaining a Master of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. During his time at Princeton, he held the role of publisher at The Princeton Tory, a conservative student-run publication. Additionally, he was a member of the Princeton Tigers men’s basketball team. Following his graduation in 2003, he entered the professional world, working as an equity capital markets analyst at Bear Stearns. Concurrently, he was commissioned as a reserve infantry officer in the U.S. Army National Guard.
In 2004, he was deployed to Guantánamo Bay, where he served as an infantry platoon leader with the Minnesota National Guard, under the operational control of the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. For his service, he received the Army Commendation Medal. After returning from Cuba, he volunteered for additional service in Baghdad and Samarra, taking on roles as an infantry platoon leader and later as a civil–military operations officer in Samarra. His contributions in Iraq earned him the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, and a second Army Commendation Medal. In 2012, he returned to active duty as a captain and was deployed to Afghanistan with the Minnesota Army National Guard.
During this period, he served as a senior counterinsurgency instructor at the Counterinsurgency Training Center in Kabul. Currently holding the rank of major in the Individual Ready Reserve, he has been honored with two Bronze Stars for his overseas service. After returning from Iraq, he briefly worked at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. In 2007, he made a transition to Vets For Freedom, assuming the role of executive director, as indicated on his LinkedIn page. During his time there, he also took on the responsibility of responding to the Federal Election Commission in his capacity as the organization’s “treasurer.” He remained with Vets For Freedom until 2012, and the organization advocated for an increased troop presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2012, he established the political action committee MN PAC. Following his tenure at Vets For Freedom, he served as the executive director for Concerned Veterans for America, an advocacy group financially supported by the Koch brothers. The organization promoted greater privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). According to his LinkedIn page, he parted ways with the group in 2015. In 2012, he ran for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota but withdrew from the race after the May 2012 convention, before the Republican primary election in August, which Kurt Bills won. During Hegseth’s tenure as the chief executive of Concerned Veterans for America, the organization employed his brother Philip, who received a salary of $108,000, according to tax records from 2016 and 2017.
When questioned about this arrangement, Hegseth’s lawyer emphasized that Philip, a May 2015 university graduate, was qualified for the media relations job, and there were no prohibitions against private entities hiring family members. An analysis by APM Reports revealed that while he managed the MN PAC political action committee, approximately one-third of its $15,000 in funds were spent on Christmas parties for families and friends. Minnesota campaign finance laws did not prohibit such spending, and less than half of the PAC’s resources were directed toward candidates. As of March 2018, the PAC had closed its account with the state board.
During the 2016 Republican primaries, Hegseth initially supported Marco Rubio, then Ted Cruz, and eventually Donald Trump. Over the years, he has become a staunch supporter of Donald Trump. As a Fox News personality, he frequently criticized the media and Democrats, including expressing criticism of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He has been a contributor to Fox News since 2014 and co-hosted Fox News Channel’s All-American New Year in December 2018. In June 2022, during a “Fox & Friends Weekend” segment, he made a symbolic protest against Harvard and similar universities by crossing out “Harvard” on his diploma and writing “Critical Theory” while marking “RETURN TO SENDER” across the central body.
He voiced concerns about universities influencing conservative students negatively. Furthermore, he has been involved in several incidents, including accidentally hitting a West Point drummer with an axe during a live TV segment in 2015, where the drummer sustained minor injuries. In May 2018, he mocked The New York Times for allegedly not covering a story about the capture of five ISIS leaders, although the paper had already reported on the story. In May 2019, it was reported that he had sought to convince Trump to pardon military service members charged with war crimes, a fact he did not disclose while discussing the cases on Fox News. He made controversial remarks in July 2019, suggesting that Rashida Tlaib, a Muslim member of Congress, had a “Hamas agenda.”
In August 2019, he criticized young voters for being concerned about climate change and lamented the focus on environmentalism in universities. In January 2020, he expressed strong support for President Trump’s decision to kill Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and called for bombing the Iranian homeland, including cultural sites. Moreover, in February 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he claimed that Democrats were “rooting for coronavirus to spread” and suggested the Omicron variant was made up by Democrats for political gain.
Pete Hegseth Salary
Hegseth earns an annual salary of about $47,000-$120,000.
Pete Hegseth Net Worth
Hegseth has an estimated net worth of about $1 Million – $7 Million which he has earned through his career as an author and host.
Pete Hegseth Age
Hegseth was born on June 6, 1980, in Forest Lake, Minnesota, United States. He is 44 years old as of 2024, and he celebrates his birthday on the 6th of June every year.
Pete Hegseth Height and Weight
Hegseth stands at a height of 5 feet 11 inches tall however, information about his weight has not been disclosed.
Pete Hegseth Family
Hegseth is the son of Penelope Hegseth and Brian Hegseth and he also has two younger brothers. Among them Philip, who graduated from the university in 2015.
Pete Hegseth Wife and Children
Hegseth is married to Jennifer Rauchet who is the Fox Executive television producer. They got engaged in June 2019 and later tied the knot on August 2019. Together they have been blessed with one child, whom they named; Gwendolyn who was born in 2017. His other kids are his stepchildren from Jennifer: Kenzie, Jackson, and Luke.He resides in Middle Tennessee together with his family.
Pete Hegseth Divorce
Hegseth married Meredith Schwarz in 2004 and later went through a divorce in 2009. He subsequently entered into marriage with his second wife, Samantha Deering, in 2010, and the couple has three children together. The children are called, Boone Hegseth, Gunner Hegseth and Rex Hegseth. In an unfortunate turn of events, in August 2017, during his marriage to Deering, Hegseth had a daughter with Fox executive producer Jennifer Rauchet. He was involved with in an extramarital relationship at the time. Consequently, he and Deering finalized their divorce in August 2017.
Pete Hegseth FOX News
While working for FOX News Hegseth co-works alongside:
Social Media Platform
Hegseth is very active on his Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages. He has 166.6k followers on Twitter 345.6k followers on Instagram, and 123.3k followers on Facebook.