A prominent civil rights attorney has accused Peter Hegseth, the former Fox News host nominated by Donald Trump as defense secretary, of being “known to be a white supremacist.”
Sherrilyn Ifill, former director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, made the remarks during an appearance on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes on Thursday while discussing Trump’s surprise pick of Hegseth for the key cabinet position, as well as Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Hayes interjected to say that Hegseth would deny being a white supremacist.
Newsweek has contacted Hegseth via Fox News and the Trump campaign for comment via email. Newsweek doesn’t have evidence that he is a white supremacist.
The choices from Trump have raised concerns that the president-elect is deciding his next Cabinet based on loyalty rather than experience. Critics argue that Hegseth, who used to host Fox & Friends Weekend on Sundays, has no senior command experience despite serving in the military. Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard, serving in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay, according to The Associated Press. He would leave the service with the rank of major.
“This is someone who is known to be a white supremacist, known to be an extremist, whose book is basically about his opposition to the advancement of Black officers to the top brass,” Ifill told Hayes.
“And the military is actually a very important area for Black advancement. By the way, the Department of Defense has 3 million employees. There’s no evidence that this man has ever run anything. The fact that he is a veteran is simply insufficient,” she added. “Because these are two very, very important positions, they strike me as eminently dangerous.”
Hegseth previously revealed he was one of 12 National Guard members who were removed for President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration because he was “deemed extremist” due to his Jerusalem Cross tattoo on the chest.
Hegseth told former Navy Seal Shawn Ryan’s podcast that the Jerusalem cross tattoo—one large cross with additional smaller crosses in each quadrant—has no connections to extremism and is “just a Christian symbol.”
Hegseth also has the Christian motto “Deus Vult” (God wills it) tattooed on his arm. Steven Monacelli, a journalist who covers politics and extremism, wrote on Bluesky Hegseth’s tattoo signifies “how steeped he is in far-right Christian nationalist ideology.”
After receiving pushback from Hayes, Ifill added: “If you read what he’s written about the people in the military—about gay people in the military, about women in the military, about Black people in the military, especially in supervisory positions—he is an extremist. That is absolutely true.”
In his 2024 book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, Hegseth, who is a New York Times bestselling author, spoke out against the military’s drive to increase diversity among higher-ranked officers.
“Take it to the racist bank: Black troops at all levels will be promoted simply based on their race,” he wrote in a section cited by The Washington Post. “Some will be qualified; some will not be.”
Hegseth has also questioned the role of women in combat.
“Dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes,” he wrote. “We need moms. But not in the military, and especially not in combat units.”
“Next to the communist Chinese and their global ambitions, Islamism is the most dangerous threat to freedom in the world. It cannot be negotiated with, coexisted with, or understood; it must be exposed, marginalized, and crushed,” Hegseth also wrote in his 2020 book, American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free.
“Just like the Christian crusaders who pushed back the Muslim hordes in the 12th century, American Crusaders will need to muster the same courage against Islamists today.”
Hegseth’s appointment as defense secretary will need to be confirmed by the Senate next year in a simple majority vote. With the GOP controlling the upper chamber next year with a 53-47 seat majority, Hegseth cannot afford to have more than three Republican senators vote against his nomination.
A number of security experts and Pentagon officials have spoken out against Hegseth’s nomination, while several Trump allies have voiced support for the move.
Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Hegseth’s lack of national security experience may hinder his chances of getting Senate confirmation.
“I think Trump was tired of fighting with his secretaries of defense and picked one who would be loyal to him,” Cancian told The Associated Press.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana reportedly responded to news of Hegseth’s nomination by asking “Who?”
North Dakota Senator John Hoeven, also a Republican, dismissed concerns about Hegseth, saying Trump chose the Fox News host for the top role because the president-elect is “close to him and likes him and trusts him.”
“The guy’s obviously tremendously capable, a great communicator,” Hoeven told AP. “I look forward to getting to know him better.”
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