Pete Hegseth's handwashing comment goes viral after Trump's nomination

A resurfaced clip of Fox News host and veteran Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for defense secretary, claiming he hasn't washed his hands in a decade has gone viral.

Since Tuesday's announcement, the 2019 clip has been reshared on X, formerly Twitter, with one post reaching over 1.2 million people.

“I actually never wash my hands,” Hegseth said. “I vaccinate myself. Germs are not real things. I can’t see them, so they’re not real.”

Be Fox and friends Co-host Jedidiah Bila appeared shocked and said, “Someone help me!” Hegseth later posted on Twitter that the comment was a joke.

Newsweek asked Hegseth for comment on Fox News on Wednesday afternoon.

The resurfacing of the footage comes after Hegseth's nomination for a cabinet post within the next administration.

Hegseth previously served in Afghanistan and Iraq and received the Combat Infantryman Badge. During his time at Fox News, he developed a friendship with Trump, who regularly appeared on Hegseth's show on weekends.

Trump announced Hegseth's choice for defense secretary in a social media post on Tuesday evening.

“Pete has spent his entire life as a warrior for the troops and for the country. “Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” the president-elect said.

While the nomination drew mixed reactions from the military and the Republican Party, social media users used the viral clip to raise concerns that he was unqualified to lead such a complex government department.

One

However, others said the presenter was clearly joking and a clip from almost six years ago meant nothing.

Hegseth graduated from Princeton University in 2003 and was commissioned as an infantry captain in the Army National Guard. He was deployed to Guantanamo Bay as part of the New Jersey National Guard and served in Iraq in 2006 as a platoon leader and civil-military operations officer.

In 2012, Hegseth returned to active duty as a captain and was later deployed to Afghanistan with the Minnesota National Guard as a counterinsurgency instructor in Kabul. Hegseth was awarded two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman's Badge during his overseas service.

Hegseth joined Fox News in 2014 as a commentator before becoming an anchor in 2017 and serving as head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs during the first Trump administration.