President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he will nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Department in his second term has already sparked controversy.

Hegseth, a military veteran, staunch defender of Trump’s “America First” agenda, and an outspoken critic of what he calls the military’s “woke” culture, has built a career around challenging the military establishment. He played an influential role in advocating for Trump to intervene on behalf of military personnel in three cases involving war crimes allegations in 2019 — cases that divided the military and sparked fierce debates over the limits of executive power and military responsibility.

Now, if he is named the next Secretary of Defense, Hegseth will oversee 1.3 million active-duty military personnel and manage military strategy at a time of global instability. This raises questions about how his past approach to accused war criminals will influence his military leadership. and discipline.

During Trump’s first term, Hegseth lobbied for pardons of Army Lt. Clint Lorance and Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, and pushed for support for Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, each of whom faced charges or convictions related to alleged war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan . . Hegseth’s advocacy on behalf of the three service members appeared to pay off: In November 2019, Trump pardoned Lorance and Golsteyn, and reversed a demotion of Gallagher, citing Hegseth and Fox News when he tweeted about his decision to resign. of the cases.

Hegseth’s vocal defense of these men as victims of overzealous prosecution raised eyebrows in the military community, where such interventions by civilians are seen by some as a threat to the integrity of the justice system. “These are men who went into the most dangerous places on earth with a job to defend us and made tough calls at the drop of a hat,” Hegseth said on Fox & Friends in May 2019. warriors.”

Lorance had been convicted by a military court in 2013 of killing two Afghan men during a 2012 military operation in which he ordered his soldiers to open fire on a group of unarmed Afghan civilians he suspected of being insurgents. Lorance served six years of a 19-year prison sentence before Trump, after lobbying from Hegseth and others, pardoned him in November 2019, arguing that he was unfairly targeted by military prosecutors and that his actions were justified in a combat environment where there was division. Second decisions were often necessary for survival.

Golsteyn, a former Green Beret, was accused of killing an unarmed Afghan man in 2010, a suspect he said was responsible for killing U.S. troops. Although Golsteyn was awarded the Silver Star for his actions in Afghanistan, he later admitted to killing the suspect during a CIA interview, prompting an investigation and eventual indictment against him. Trump pardoned him in November 2019 after Hegseth interviewed Golsteyn on his show.

Gallagher was accused by the Navy of multiple crimes, including shooting civilians in Iraq, using a knife to kill a teenage Islamic State prisoner in Iraq in 2017, and threatening to kill fellow SEALs if they would report him. Gallagher was acquitted of murder by a military jury, but convicted of posing for photos with the deceased body. As punishment, his rank was lowered by one step. Trump reversed Gallagher’s demotion and restored his rank and benefits.

For Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, these cases were emblematic of what he saw as a broader pattern of military prosecutors and officials unfairly targeting service members who made difficult decisions at the battlefield. He argued that the military justice system moved too quickly on prosecutions and was too eager to please public opinion, especially among liberal critics of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His defense of these men resonated with much of the conservative base, which viewed the pardons as acts of justice for heroes scapegoated for the failures of the U.S. military’s strategy in the region.

“He risked his life serving abroad to protect the rights of all of us here at home,” Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina said of Gallagher in March 2019 at a rally outside the Capitol, urging authorities urging Gallagher to be released from confinement. his trial “in light of his courage, his patriotism, and his rights as an American citizen.”

The Washington After reported at the time that Hegseth had personally lobbied Trump on behalf of the military, regularly making appeals through his Fox News platform and claiming that the military had been tainted by political correctness. “You train someone to go out and fight and kill the enemy, then they kill the enemy in a way that someone doesn’t want to, and then we put them in jail,” Hegseth argued on his Fox News program in November 2019.

His defense of these men drew criticism from military leaders and former officials, who argued that his actions undermined the integrity of military justice and set a dangerous precedent for presidential interference. Critics warned that such high-profile interventions by a sitting president would undermine the military justice system and encourage troops to ignore the chain of command or engage in reckless behavior without fear of punishment. Others expressed concern that such interventions could damage the U.S. military’s global reputation, especially among allies who maintain strict standards of conduct in armed conflict.

Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, then ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at a 2019 hearing that he had “deep concerns about the president’s recent interference in war crimes cases.” He continued: “President Trump’s disregard for our military justice system risked undermining the trust of our military, the rule of law and their chain of command, especially those courageous enough to expose war crimes allegations and testify against their war crimes. teammates.”

The decision to appoint Hegseth as defense minister sets the stage for a possible clash with the military leadership. Last week, Hegseth hinted that he would push for the firing of senior military leaders who he believes do not sufficiently support Trump’s agenda, and said in a podcast interview that he might target Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown to address diversity and remove inclusion programs. at the agency. “First of all, you have to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” Hegseth told podcast host Shawn Ryan about reforming the military. “Every general that was involved, every general, admiral, whatever, that was involved in any of the DEI/woke sh-t needs to go.” He also said in the podcast interview that “we shouldn’t have women in combat roles,” claiming that men are better suited to do this job. “It hasn’t made us more effective, it hasn’t made us more lethal and it hasn’t made fighting more complicated,” he said. “Give me a female pilot all day, I have no problem with that.”

Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq War veteran and founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Association, called Hegseth “arguably the least qualified SecDef nominee in American history … and the most overtly political.”

Hegseth could face a challenging Senate appointment despite Republicans having the majority. “A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be Secretary of Defense,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote on social media. “I lead the Senate Military Personnel Panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform. I respect all our service members. Donald Trump’s choice will make us less safe and must be rejected.”