Pete Hegseth, the military veteran who is President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for defense secretary, took in nearly $6 million as a Fox News broadcaster, author and paid speaker in recent years, according to a new financial filing.
During Mr. Hegseth’s four-hour Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, those well-paying roles were at times an albatross for him. Some senators on the Armed Services Committee grilled him over his past public comments, often made on Fox News, on issues like women in combat and the role of military lawyers. He was also asked repeatedly about reports that he has abused alcohol, a topic he has discussed — sometimes seriously and often jokingly — in television appearances and on podcasts.
The vast majority of Mr. Hegseth’s income during the past two years was the $4.6 million he took in as a salaried employee at Fox, according to the disclosures, which cover 2023 and 2024.
If he were to become defense secretary, his income would plummet. As the top civilian position at the Pentagon, the post paid about $246,000 in 2024.
In addition to his Fox income, Mr. Hegseth reported taking in at least $600,500 in author fees associated with writing several books. One title, “The War on Warriors,” published in 2024, generated an advance of $348,000. (Because author payments are often spread out over multiple years, the precise sum he took home from an individual book is hard to discern.)
Mr. Hegseth also took in $765,000, according to the report, from paid speeches during the two-year period. The groups that hired him include Turning Point USA, the conservative student organization; the Heritage Foundation, a think tank; the National Rifle Association of America; and the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Organization.
Most of those groups provided honoraria of between $10,000 and $25,000, according to the disclosures.
Details on the financial holdings of Mr. Hegseth’s spouse, Jennifer Rauchet, who was a producer at Fox News, are also included. Among them are stakes in a variety of financial funds and shares of roughly two dozen blue-chip stocks, including Amazon, Apple, Walmart and the defense contractor Northrop Grumman.
The report discloses information about other assets and liabilities without specifying whether they apply to Mr. Hegseth, his wife or their dependent children.
They include Bitcoin holdings of at least $15,001, a rental house in Baltimore and bank accounts with a combined value of at least $67,000 in cash. They also make note of two mortgages, one on a personal residence of between about $1 million and $5 million, and a second on a rental property of between $100,001 and $250,000.
