Who is Pete Hegseth? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, achievements, and relationship with Brian Hegseth, Penny Hegseth, Meredith Schwarz, Samantha Deering, Boone Hegseth, Gunner Hegseth, and Rex Hegseth, Jennifer Rauchet, Gwen Hegseth and the early life and education of an American television host, writer, veteran advocate, and military analyst.
Pete Hegseth is an American television host, writer, veteran advocate, and military analyst. He was formerly in the army.
He co-hosts FOX & Friends Weekend on FOX News Channel (FNC) on weekends from 6 to 10 AM/ET.
In addition, he hosts several FOX Nation documentaries, such as “The MisEducation of America”, and contributes to FOX News.
He was previously the Chairman of the pro-victory group Vets for Freedom and the CEO of the veterans advocacy group Concerned Veterans for America.
He is a writer and producer, best known for Untold: Patriots Revealed (2020), Battle in the Holy City (2020), and Fox and Friends Weekend (2021).
Net Worth
As of 2023, Pete Hegseth’s net worth was reported by Forbes to be around $19 million to $25 million.
Pete Hegseth currently receives a $6 million annual salary from Fox News under the terms of his contract. He also gets a bonus of an additional $2 million on top of his fixed salary.
Hegseth’s book sales have brought in over $10 million. His best-selling book to date, Battle for the American Mind, has brought in over $4.6 million.
Hegseth paid $1.5 million for his house in Alexandria, Virginia, in 2019. In his native region Minnesota, he also owns 900 acres of agricultural land.
Early Life and Education
Peter Brian Hegseth popularly known as Pete Hegseth was born on June 6, 1980, in Forest Lake, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. to parents; Brian Hegseth and Penny Hegseth.
In Wyoming, Minnesota, he was raised with his two younger brothers in a Christian family.
Forest Lake Area High School was his alma mater.
In 2003, he graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He also participated in men’s basketball for the Princeton Tigers.
Hegseth enlisted in the Army National Guard following his graduation from Princeton. He was sent to serve as an infantry officer in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Hegseth was the publisher of The Princeton Tory, a conservative student newspaper published at Princeton during his years there.
Since his undergraduate years at Princeton University, Hegseth has been involved in conservative and Republican politics.
He graduated with a Master of Public Policy in 2013 from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Family and Marriage Life
Hegseth wed Meredith Schwarz as his first wife in 2005; the two later got divorced in 2009.
In 2010, he wed Samantha Deering, his second wife. Together, they have three children: Boone Hegseth, Gunner Hegseth (born on June 13, 2010), and Rex Hegseth.
Hegseth had an extramarital affair with Fox executive producer Jennifer Rauchet, with whom he had a daughter, Gwen Hegseth, in August 2017, while he was still married to Deering.
August 2017 saw the divorce of him and Deering.
On August 16, 2019, Hegseth and Rauchet, who had three young children from her previous marriage, tied the knot.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Military career
Hegseth joined Bear Stearns as an equity capital markets analyst after graduating from Princeton in 2003. He also received a commission as a reserve infantry officer in the National Guard of the United States.
He led an infantry platoon in the Minnesota National Guard when his unit was dispatched to Guantánamo Bay in 2004.
As part of the 101st Airborne Division, his unit was operated by the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment. The Army Commendation Medal was given to him.
Hegseth volunteered to serve in Baghdad and Samarra shortly after his return from Cuba, first serving as an infantry platoon leader and then serving as a civil-military operations officer in Samarra.
He received a second Army Commendation Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Bronze Star Medal for his service in Iraq.
In 2012, he was called back to active duty as a captain.
He served as a senior counterinsurgency instructor at the Counterinsurgency Training Centre in Kabul while on deployment with the Minnesota Army National Guard.
Major Hegseth is presently stationed in the Individual Ready Reserve. Due to his overseas service, he has been granted two Bronze Stars.
Conservative activism and Senate campaign
Pete Hegseth had a brief employment at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research after his return from Iraq.
In order to take an executive director position at Vets For Freedom, Hegseth left the conservative think tank in 2007. One of his responsibilities as the group’s “treasurer” was to respond to the Federal Election Commission.
Up until 2012, he was employed by Vets for Freedom. The group promoted increasing military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In 2012, Hegseth established the MN PAC political action committee.
He served as executive director of the Koch brothers-funded advocacy organisation Concerned Veterans for America.
The group promoted increased Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) privatisation. In 2015, he broke away from the group.
In 2012, Hegseth sought the Republican nomination for the Minnesota U.S. Senate seat.
Following the May 2012 convention and prior to the August Republican primary election, in which Kurt Bills emerged victorious, he withdrew from the race.
Fox News Channel Career
In 2014, Pete Hegseth became a contributor to Fox News Channel (FNC).
In 2016, he received a promotion to co-host Fox & Friends Weekend.
Hegseth has offered analysis and commentary on a variety of daytime and primetime shows at FNC.
His most recent hosting role was for the fourth FOX Nation Patriot Awards. He previously served as the host of The Miseducation of America, a FOX Nation special.
Hegseth has been hosting FNC’s special New Year’s coverage for the past few years.
He and his FOX & Friends Weekend co-hosts Rachel Campos-Duffy and Will Cain hosted All American New Year live from the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tennessee, to usher in 2023.
Alongside Lisa Kennedy Montgomery of FBN, he co-hosted the All-American New Year special on FNC in 2020. Hegseth featured an exclusive interview with former President Donald Trump during the special.
Since 2021, he has also frequently appeared as a guest on Unfiltered with Dan Bongino.
Other Ventures
The foreword to Nick Adams and Dave Erickson’s 2017 book The Case Against the Establishment was written by Pete Hegseth.
Major Hegseth’s debut book, In the Arena: Good vs. Evil, America vs. the World, was released by Simon & Schuster’s Threshold Editions in May 2016.
American Crusade: How the Trump Presidency Will Save the World (2020), Camp David: The Presidents, the Retreat, and the Legacy (2014), Modern Warriors: Fighting for the Soul of America (2018), Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Socialist Engineering (2021), and Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation (2022) are some of his other books.
He is a team member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a regular writer for FOXNews.com and National Review.
Achievements and Awards
Pete Hegseth is a combat infantryman badge holder and the recipient of two bronze stars for his service in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has an Expert Infantryman Badge as well.
For his commitment to serving in the army, he has been awarded multiple medals, including the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, and the National Defence Service Medal.
Controversies
Over his career, Pete Hegseth has been a part of several controversies. Hegseth faced backlash in 2015 when he claimed that the Obama administration was “trying to destroy America” to which he expressed his regret afterwards.
He faced backlash in 2016 after stating that Muslims shouldn’t be permitted to hold elected office in the United States Congress which he also expressed his regret to afterwards.
Hegseth also faced backlash in 2017 after asserting that slavery was not a factor in the American Civil War. To this, he also later apologized.
He faced backlash in 2018 after declaring that the media was “the enemy of the people.” He later expressed regret for his words.
Hegseth crossed out Harvard on his diploma while writing in “Critical Theory” in June 2022 on a segment of “Fox & Friends Weekend.” He then wrote “RETURN TO SENDER” across the central body in protest of Harvard and other similar universities.
In addition, Hegseth attacked universities for teaching their students about “environmentalism and radical environmentalism” as opposed to a “real threat” like Islamic extremism.
He regularly attacked Democrats and the media in his role as a Fox News personality. He expressed disapproval of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Hegseth publicly endorsed President Trump’s January 2020 decision to assassinate Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.
Additionally, he urged Trump to strike Iranian cultural sites and the country itself if weapons were being stored there.
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