The Metamorphosis of Pete Hegseth: From Critic of War Crimes to Defender of the Accused
The New York Times
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to lead the Defense Department was described by peers as a skillful soldier who became embittered by military dysfunction.
Follow updates on Trump’s cabinet and staff picks.
When Pete Hegseth was an earnest, young Army lieutenant in Iraq in 2005, he was cleareyed on how he viewed crimes committed by soldiers in war.
Soldiers in his own infantry company in Iraq in 2006 had shot civilians, executed prisoners and tried to cover up the crimes.
“Those are a no-brainer,” he told an audience at the University of Virginia after his deployment. He called the acts of those soldiers, who served in a sister platoon in his company, “atrocities” and added: “Of course that’s wrong. No one is here to defend that.”
By the end of his Army career, though, he was repeatedly doing exactly that.
As a presenter on Fox News, he portrayed other troops charged with war crimes as “heroes.” The military prosecuting them was, he said, “throwing warriors under the bus.” The once circumspect officer glossed over crucial details, told his TV audience that troops were just “doing the job they were hired to do” and pushed relentlessly for President Donald J. Trump to intervene.
A developer wanted to replace parking garages with affordable apartments in Manhattan, but some residents on the Upper West Side resisted. Here’s why the housing won.
Prosecutors have had to acknowledge that a victim frightened those around him. The defense lawyers are expected to paint their client as a protector.
In scores of interviews throughout 2024, Latino, Black and Asian American voters, many of whom voted for Donald Trump, said they no longer trusted Democrats to improve the economy.
The Constitution sets a two-term limit for presidents. Still, Donald J. Trump has repeatedly floated the idea that he might like to stay in the White House beyond his next term.
In other testimony, law enforcement witnesses placed the suspect, José Ibarra, at the scene of Ms. Riley’s killing, mainly through cellphone and GPS tracking data.
The warning, which extends beyond the city to include 10 other counties in New York state, was announced as wildfires burned and residents continued to await meaningful rainfall.
A new curriculum would focus on Christianity more than other religions. A kindergarten lesson on the Golden Rule, for example, would teach about Jesus and his Sermon on the Mount.
A suspect was arrested Monday morning in connection with the stabbings, which occurred across a broad swath of the borough over several hours and left a third person critically injured.
The 99-year-old house on Boston’s North Shore is battered and uninhabited. And yet, it is beloved by artists and locals — so much that they helped pause its demolition.
Slashing the original $15 toll raises questions about whether a smaller revenue stream could delay projects or lead to higher costs for New York’s public transit agency.
The group’s actions in Columbus on Saturday, part of a recent pattern of white supremacist incidents in the country, were condemned by officials around the state.