Yes, Trump's Defense Secretary Pick Pete Hegseth Once Said 'Germs Are Not a Real Thing'

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has generated and been the subject of numerous rumors since his narrow confirmation for the position in President Donald Trump's cabinet in early 2025.

Three Republican senators, along with every Democrat and independent, voted against the former Fox News presenter, whom Trump nominated and then stood behind despite allegations of heavy drinking and sexual assault against women, all of which he has denied. He is often the target of rumors related to these reports. For example, Snopes has debunked a claim that police arrested Hegseth for drunkenly crashing a tank into the Pentagon, and we also confirmed he once published — but did not write — a column that said sex with unconscious women is not rape. 

In his role as Trump's defense secretary, Hegseth has come under fire for various reasons, including once saying that women should not be in combat roles and for his part in accidentally sharing what may have been classified military intelligence via a Signal group chat with the editor-in-chief of the political magazine The Atlantic. 

Here are 20 rumors we have investigated about Hegseth: