Ex-Fox News anchor blasts Trump cabinet pick: Not qualified for ‘any’ job

Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson says President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary isn’t qualified for the job — or any high-ranking position within the administration.
Carlson recently said she was “stunned” Trump tapped her former colleague, Fox News’ Pete Hegseth, for the post. Later, there were reports Hegseth was accused of and investigated for sexual assault in 2017.
“Why I said Hegseth was not qualified to be defense secretary or any secretary,” Carolson posted to X with a link to one of the reports.
In 2016, Carlson sued Fox News’ former chief executive, Roger Ailes, claiming she was cut loose after she refused his sexual advances and complained about harassment in the workplace.
Carlson publicly took on one of the most powerful men in the media business. Ailes built Fox News Channel from scratch in the 1990s, turning it into the top-rated television news network with a profound influence on politics. Fox is highly profitable for parent company 21st Century Fox.
She settled her sexual harassment lawsuit against him for a reported $20 million.
Ailes died in 2017.
Hegseth was never charged with any crime.
Hegseth’s choice could bring sweeping changes to the military. He has made it clear on his show and in interviews that, like Trump, he is opposed to “woke” programs that promote equity and inclusion. He also has questioned the role of women in combat and advocated pardoning service members charged with war crimes.
The 44-year-old Hegseth, a staunch conservative who embraces Trump’s “America First” policies, has pushed for making the military more lethal. During an interview on “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast, he said allowing women to serve in combat hurts that effort.
“Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, that means casualties are worse,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show.
Hegseth was an infantry captain in the Army National Guard and served overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and he unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.