Pete Hegseth, the military veteran Fox News host and Trump pick to run the Pentagon, disclosed his salary at the cable news network as part of the next step in his confirmation process as a potential cabinet official in the next administration.
Hegseth stated that he earned $4,602,340 as a salary at the network, where he has co-hosted Fox & Friends Weekend since 2017 before stepping down from the role in November when he was nominated by Donald Trump for the Secretary of Defense role.
Hegseth also disclosed to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in a filing on Jan. 13 that he earned rent/royalty income of between $100,000 and $1,000,000 for his book Battle for the American Mind at HarperCollins and a $348,000 advance for The War on Warriors at the same publisher. He also collected honorariums in the tens of thousands (including $25,000 from the National Rifle Association and $25,000 from the Heritage Foundation) for speeches and talks given to various corporate and political groups over the past couple years.
The Fox News host was a surprise pick, one of several, made by Trump in a flurry in the days after his presidential election victory. “Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy,” Trump stated as he unveiled the pick.
Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been subject to scrutiny. Days after his nomination, allegations surfaced that a woman filed a police report in Monterey in 2017 accusing him of sexual assault. Hegseth denied the claim and Trump has stood by his pick. “This police report confirms what I’ve 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’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, stated to CNN in November.
Hegseth is set to speak with the Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan. 14 on Capitol Hill at a hearing as part of the confirmation process.
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