US Defense Secretary, Japanese Prime Minister visit Iwo Jima memorial
In his first trip to Japan, U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth visited Iwo Jima and attended a memorial with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
WASHINGTON − For Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, running the Pentagon is a family affair.
Hegseth’s younger brother hopped on the Defense Secretary’s jet for a trip to Hawaii last week, while his wife sat in on two important meetings with European military leaders, according to recent news reports.
Phil Hegseth, Pete Hegseth’s younger brother, is a Department of Homeland Security liaison to the Defense Department, the Pentagon confirmed to the Associated Press. He’s a former public affairs advisor to the Hudson Institute think tank where, his online biography says, he “led production of Hudson’s podcasts, video products, and website design.”
Phil Hegseth also previously worked at a veterans nonprofit run by Pete Hegseth. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for confirmation or comment.
DHS has taken on an important role in the Trump administration, as it vows to ramp up deportations of people in the U.S. illegally. President Donald Trump has also directed the military to take up a more active role in immigration, sending an additional 4,500 troops to the southern border.
In his liaison role Phil Hegseth traveled with his older brother on a trip through the Indo-Pacific, including Hawaii, Guam, Japan and the Philippines. And he tagged along on the Defense secretary’s trip to Guantanamo Bay late last month after Trump announced plans to detain tens of thousands of migrants at the U.S. base in Cuba.
Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University and a government ethics expert, said that if Pete Hegseth “promoted, advanced or advocated” for the advancement of his brother’s position, he may run afoul of a 1967 anti-nepotism law. A violation of that law would mean “his brother would not be entitled to payment of a salary” from the Treasury Department, she said.
“It doesn’t just say, ‘Hey, don’t appoint family members or advocate for family members,'” she said. “If you do that, then your family members aren’t entitled to their salaries.”
Pete Hegseth’s wife sits in on important meetings
Pete Hegseth’s wife also got up close to his high-stakes talks with European allies in which sensitive information was discussed.
Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth sat in on the secretary’s high level meeting with British Defense Minister John Healey on March 6, the Wall Street Journal first reported on Friday.
The meeting convened the day after the Trump administration cut off intelligence sharing to Ukraine, and a week after Trump’s explosive Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in late February.
Jennifer Hegseth was also present at a closed-door meeting in Brussels last month with around 50 U.S. allies for the purpose of coordinating aid for Ukraine. In his public opening remarks to the group, Pete Hegseth said returning Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders an “illusionary goal” and said admitting Ukraine to NATO is “unrealistic,” marking a major shift in the U.S.’s stated objectives in ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While past Defense secretaries have brought their spouses to official talks and on trips abroad, they are usually not present for meetings in which sensitive information is discussed. It is unclear if Jennifer Hegseth, a former Fox News producer and vice president, has a security clearance. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
“I don’t know whether it was illegal, but it seems like very poor judgment and reckless,” Clark said.
SignalGate ‘case closed,’ White House says
Hegseth was among those who received a clean chit from the White House on Monday after he shared details about upcoming airstrikes on a group chat that included President Donald Trump’s top security officials and a journalist from The Atlantic magazine.
“This case has been closed here at the White House,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “As far as we are concerned, there have been steps made to ensure that something like that can obviously never happen again, and we’re moving forward.”