“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg falsely said Wednesday that President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, knows nothing about the military.
The panel aired a clip of Hegseth opposing women fighting in combat and criticizing the military’s lowering of standards regarding who can serve, though he clarified that he respects women service members. Hegseth served in the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard, according to his personal website.
“So is this the guy who’s qualified to make decisions about the most powerful military in the world who clearly does not know anything about the military,” Goldberg said.
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Trump announced that he had tapped Hegseth to serve as his secretary of defense in a Tuesday evening statement on Truth Social, where he praised his military experience.
“Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country. Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” the statement reads.
The upcoming defense secretary previously served as the head of the Concerned Veterans for America, and has praised Trump for fighting on behalf of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher in 2019, who was acquitted of serious war crime charges in Iraq.
Trump praised Hegseth’s book, “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” which delved into “the deep roots of our dysfunction” that has led to the “cultural chaos and weakness” that has reportedly developed in the military. The president-elect said the book “reveals the left-wing betrayal of our warriors, and how we must return our military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability and excellence” in his statement announcing Hegseth’s appointment.
Hegseth joined Fox News in 2014 and is currently a co-host on “Fox & Friends Weekend.” He earned two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge in honor of his service.
Trump intends to fire “woke” Pentagon officials, slash funding, decrease the number of generals and roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts to recruit more women and transgender soldiers. The America First Policy Institute, a think tank aligned with Trump, released an outline to “eliminate non-military issues such as climate change and democracy promotion from military doctrine and defense policies.”
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