Fox host to embattled Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth: “Do you think ... there's some type of deep state forces that want to make sure you don't stay there?"
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From the April 22, 2025, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Mr. Secretary, do you think -- you take this job, you come in with war experience and all your great background, do you think there's a lot of people don't want you there and there's some type of deep state forces that want to make sure you don't stay there?
PETE HEGSETH (SECRETARY OF DEFENSE): They've come after me from day one, just like they've come after President Trump. I've gotten a fraction of what President Trump got in that first term. What he has endured is superhuman. It's not hard for me to do this job. I know exactly why I am here: to bring war fighting and the war fighting ethos back to the Pentagon. To rip out the insidious ideologies and not compromise and not back down. To bring in new press voices into the Pentagon, which we have done. To reestablish standards and accountability. To not tolerate leakers. To 100% operational control of our border. To get rid of trans lunacy in the military. We haven't backed down.