Pete Hegseth’s huge pay cut revealed as he looks to swap massive Fox News salary to be Trump’s Defense Secretary

Pete Hegseth is prepared to take a massive pay cut for a chance to join President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet.

The 44-year-old will face a good old Capitol Hill grilling on Tuesday in his first confirmation hearing to serve as Secretary of Defense in Trump’s second White House term.

Financial disclosure released on Monday, and first reported by the Washington Post, revealed that Hegseth made $4.6 million over the last two years as a host on Fox News.

He also made around $900,000 in speaking fees at non-profits, political action committees (PACS) and other conservative-centric organizations.

If he is confirmed to lead the Pentagon, which is highly likely in the Republican-controlled Congress, Hegseth will be taking home significantly less.

Hegseth, if elevated to the role, will also be trading in his cushy Fox job for a highly regulated and under-the-microscope position.

As of October 2024, the Secretary of Defense’s annual salary clocked in at $246,400 – a massive payout for most Americans, but pennies compared to what Hegseth has become used to seeing in his pocket.

Pette Hegseth will face a massive pay cut if he becomes Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense

Additionally, ever since Trump announced his intention to nominate Hegseth, the father-of-seven has faced immense scrutiny.

He quickly became one of Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks after he immediately resigned from Fox when news of his impending nomination broke.

But Hegseth refused to let that stop him from chugging forward and will face his first confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

Reports emerged or reemerged of former colleagues of Hegseth’s revealing damning allegations against him, including that he would drink too much on the job.

He was also accused of inappropriate conduct in the workplace and sexual assault in reports that emerged amid news breaking of his impending nomination.

And Hegseth’s own mother called him a slew of derogatory names in email correspondence when he was going through a divorce and claimed he was an ‘abuser of women.’ But she went on Fox News last month to defend her son claiming that he is a changed man and that her comments were a mistake made during a time of impassioned anger.

Hegseth has acknowledged that he paid an undisclosed amount of money to a woman who accused him of sexual assault at a Republican conference in 2017.

A report from the New Yorker revealed former colleagues at two different veterans groups claiming that Hegseth mismanaged money and engaged in excessive drinking and sexism, both claims that he denies.

Pete Hegseth made $4.6 million in his last two years at Fox News, according to financial disclosures first reported by the Washington Post