Former Fox News figures have rallied behind Jennifer Hegseth after a New York Times investigation raised questions about her unusually prominent, unofficial role alongside her husband, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, at the Pentagon.
Sean Duffy, the former Fox presenter who is now Transport Secretary, said Mr Hegseth was “blessed” to have his wife advising him.
“She’s really smart and Pete is better because of Jen,” Mr Duffy said in a forthcoming appearance on the Katie Miller Podcast, alongside his wife, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy.
Ms Miller, who is married to Trump adviser Stephen Miller, dismissed the newspaper’s report as a “hit piece” and argued that there was nothing inherently unusual about a politician relying heavily on his wife for advice, even when she held no formal post in his department.
Ms Campos-Duffy said political spouses could offer a rare source of advice because they were among the few people close to a senior official without a separate political agenda.
“Every political marriage” had one person whose “no angle except what’s best for that person” was the politician’s wife, she said.
She acknowledged that Mrs Hegseth appeared to have a more visible presence at the Pentagon than many other political spouses.
“Maybe she’s a little more out front inside of the Pentagon,” Ms Campos-Duffy said. “But the best politicians have really smart wives who help them decide and debate and discern what the best moves are.”
Mr Duffy said his own wife did not attend every meeting or receive all the information available to him as a senior government official. However, he described her as a trusted sounding board who would challenge him and offer advice.
He said a similar relationship existed between the Hegseths, while recognising that Mrs Hegseth could not have access to all of her husband’s classified work.
“She probably can’t get into every SCIF with all the knowledge and information that Pete has,” he said, referring to secure facilities used for discussions involving highly classified material.
Ms Campos-Duffy also insisted that Mrs Hegseth was not taking part in military operations. “It’s not like she’s in making… you know, bombing decisions in Iran,” she said.
Questions over Jennifer Hegseth’s Pentagon influence
Their defence follows a New York Times report based on interviews with more than 20 current and former administration officials and people familiar with Mrs Hegseth’s role.
The investigation portrayed her as her husband’s most influential adviser and an unofficial producer involved in shaping his public image and work at the Pentagon.
It said she had helped prepare him for media appearances, taken part in meetings with journalists, interviewed potential staff and contributed ideas for Defence Department videos. She had also attended meetings involving foreign officials.
One meeting with British defence officials reportedly attracted particular scrutiny after Washington temporarily halted intelligence-sharing with Ukraine. British officials were said to have held back from discussing the risks to their personnel while Mrs Hegseth was present, with a fuller conversation taking place after she left.
The Pentagon disputed that she had been present for classified discussions, saying she attended only for introductions.
Mrs Hegseth’s background in television has also reportedly brought her into the department’s media strategy. She spent 18 years as a Fox News executive producer and was involved in her husband’s television career before they married in 2019.
The Times reported that she helped decide which reporters were given access to Mr Hegseth and supported efforts to remove journalists viewed as hostile to him. The Pentagon subsequently introduced a new media rotation system that replaced several established news organisations with outlets including the New York Post, Breitbart and One America News.
John Ullyot, Mr Hegseth’s former chief spokesman, criticised the arrangement, telling the newspaper: “It’s bonkers that a defence secretary would involve his wife in his sensitive official duties, including sharing details of an impending military operation, and face zero consequences.”
Senator Chris Coons also questioned her participation in sensitive meetings, saying: “This is not normal.”
The Pentagon has defended Mrs Hegseth as an “accomplished leader” and “devoted military spouse”, describing her as a “vital asset” and a “true force multiplier”.
She now holds a formal Washington role after President Donald Trump appointed her chairwoman of the President’s Military Spouse Commission on August 10.
The commission was created by an executive order signed on August 3 to advise the president on issues affecting military families, including housing, employment, healthcare, education, childcare and support during deployments. Its members serve without pay, and it is due to operate for two years unless extended.
The appointment gives Mrs Hegseth an official platform of her own, even as debate continues over how far her influence extends inside the Pentagon and whether the role of a defence secretary’s spouse should include involvement in sensitive official business.
