Trump’s Pick For Pentagon Chief Claimed He Left The Military After Being ‘Deemed’ An ‘Extremist’ By Members of His Unit

President-elect Donald Trump stunned national security circles on Tuesday night by naming Fox News morning show co-host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth as his nominee for secretary of defense. Like all nominees to major roles in the U.S. government, reporters quickly poured through Hegseth’s many years of on-air moments and other public remarks, including his recent book “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.”

In the June 2024 book, Hegesth explains how he and the military finally parted ways in 2021. “And, in 2021, I was deemed an “extremist” by that very same Army. Yes, you read that right. Twenty years . . . and the military I loved, I fought for, I revered…spit me out,” Hegseth wrote.

“The feeling was mutual – I didn’t want this Army anymore either,” he added of the decision to finally end his time in the National Guard and leave the military.

He also joined Fox News that month to discuss his book and told the network, “I was in the National Guard during the inauguration of Joe Biden, so I served under Bush, served under Obama, served under Trump, and now was going to guard the inauguration because I was in the D.C. guard… ultimately, members of my unit in leadership deemed that I was an extremist or a white nationalist because of a tattoo I have, which is a religious tattoo. It’s a Jerusalem cross. Everybody can look it up, but it was used as a premise to revoke my orders to guard the inauguration.”

Hegseth, a long anti-woke advocate, concluded the interview with Fox’s Ainsley Earhardt by saying, “The Pentagon likes to say ‘our diversity is our strength.’ What a bunch of garbage. In the military, our diversity is not our strength. Our unity is our strength, and we need a commander-in-chief that understands that. Donald Trump certainly does.”

Mediaite reached out to the Army’s Public Affairs Office when Hegseth’s book was published and asked for clarification regarding his exit from the military, but were told at time the Army doesn’t comment on service member’s records.

Hegseth also wrote more about his tattoos, saying, “When I was doing a series for Fox Nation I did an interview while getting tattooed by the only tattoo artist in Bethlehem. I got Yehweh — Jesus in Hebrew. Also on my forearm, I have a Benjamin Franklin, effectively, political cartoon from the 1760s. It’s the Join or Die snake. I’ve got Deus Vult — God Wills It – which was the cry of the Crusaders on my bicep. I have a big flag with the AR-15 I carried in Iraq on my bicep. Then on my shoulder, I have my unit crest of who I served with in Iraq. My entire pec is a Jerusalem cross. Israel, Christianity and my faith are things I care deeply about.”

Critics have noted that Crusader tattoos have become popular in recent years with white nationalists. Newsweek reported Wednesday that “right-wing nationalist groups have adopted Crusader imagery, including depictions of Templar Knights and the Crusader slogan Deus vult.”

CBS News’s Jim LaPorta reported last week that Hegseth was one of twelve National Guardsmen removed from duty during President Joe Biden’s inauguration. “Interesting. Couple of years ago, I had a scoop which the Pentagon later confirmed that Twelve U.S. National Guard members were removed from securing then President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration after vetting. Turns out one of them was Hegseth.”

LaPorta attached a clip of Hegseth being interviewed by popular podcaster Shawn Ryan. “My commander called me a day before tepidly and was like Major you can just stand down. We don’t need you, we’re good. I’m like what do you mean, everybody’s there. He said like no no no…he couldn’t tell me,” Hegseth told Ryan.

He added that while researching his book “he reached out to somebody in the unit who could confirm with 99.9 percent certainty, because he was in the meetings and on the emails, nope someone inside the D.C. Guard trolled your social media, found a tattoo, used it an excuse to call you a white nationalist, an extremist, and you were specifically by name orders revoked to guard the inauguration because you were considered a potential threat.”

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