President Donald Trump said during his first term, now-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth would call him and advocate on behalf of those accused of war crimes.

Pete Hegseth, Fox News host and military veteran, is named by Donald Trump as defense secretary. With a background in Afghanistan and Iraq operations and a conservative media career, Hegseth faces controversies over past allegations but garners strong support within the Republican party.

Hegseth said “there are lots of presidents who made changes” citing former commanders in chief, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama. Obama, Hegseth said, “fired or dismissed hundreds” of military officials.

Departments with sensitive or confidential tasks, such as the FBI or Pentagon, initially told employees to ignore the order from DOGE and OPM.

Earlier Friday, CNN reported a wave of layoffs that could impact more than 50,000 probationary employees was paused by the Defense Department so Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and top legal ...

The judge said that the Office of Personnel Management had no authority to order government organizations to fire workers.

The president said Dan Caine once offered to kill for him and slapped a signature red hat on his head, a violation of military rules.

Hegseth promised to reinvest budget savings in other military programs and jettison civilian workers who are not living up to expectations.

Donald Trump’s new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has enormous challenges ahead of him—challenges that could seriously affect Australia by upsetting key elements of our ally’s defence position, including its ability to deliver the Virginia class