Jennifer Hegseth, the wife of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, was paid last year by Watchtower Strategy, a Trump-connected Washington consulting firm that counted Lockheed Martin as a client the same year, according to Hegseth's annual financial disclosure report, as Politico's Daniel Lippman first reported on Wednesday.
The disclosure lists her consulting work for the firm but not how much she was paid, according to Politico. Jennifer Hegseth, a former longtime Fox News producer, is the daughter of a late Lockheed Martin executive.
Watchtower was founded in January 2025 and sells strategic advice, advocacy and communications work. Its roster includes former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Republican operatives Jeff Miller, Arthur Schwartz, Dan Conston and Brian O. Walsh. Lockheed was a Watchtower client last year, according to POLITICO Influence; asked whether it still is, a Lockheed spokesperson didn't answer directly, saying only that the company routinely works with a number of firms.
Watchtower says she was hired for her TV contacts, not her husband's job. A spokesperson said she helped the firm navigate conservative TV media and "has not interfaced with any clients nor does she provide any advice to Watchtower on defense matters." The firm declined to say whether she still works there.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Hegseths are "in full compliance with all ethics laws and regulations." Jennifer Hegseth didn't respond to Politico's request for comment. She has been an unusually visible Pentagon spouse, and accompanied her husband to meetings with Republican senators during his confirmation fight.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who sat on the House Armed Services Committee and was Trump's first pick for attorney general in 2024, wasn't buying it.
The scoop landed on a day when Republicans were already looking for someone to blame for Tuesday's wipeout, and Hegseth's name kept coming up. Trump has been asking advisers whether Hegseth should stay, multiple sources told CBS News; others said he hasn't decided to replace him. One source floated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who could be confirmed in the lame duck and take over once his term ends Jan. 5. Some White House aides expect the blame to land instead on CENTCOM's Adm. Brad Cooper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, who advised on the Iran war, CBS reported.
Vice President JD Vance laid the losses squarely on the war. "The reason we lost is the war," he wrote on X.
Insiders told Fox News the same. A former White House staffer said Hegseth is "on the chopping block," and a White House official said the results "would have looked very different without the Iran War," predicting Trump would hold him accountable "in the lame duck." An administration official cautioned that "Trump can turn on a dime."
Trump, for now, is standing by him. Asked Wednesday whether he's considering replacing Hegseth, he said, "No, I think he's doing a very good job," WJLA reported. Asked about Hegseth running for the Tennessee Senate seat Marsha Blackburn is giving up after winning the governorship, Trump said he'd "be very popular if he did that," adding, "But I haven't heard that at all." White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told CBS that Trump "has full confidence in Secretary Hegseth," and Parnell said Hegseth is "100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump's term in office."
Capitol Hill is less forgiving. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Hegseth faces "a reckoning" in the lame-duck session, The Hill reported, and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has vowed to force a vote on his impeachment resolution during the lame duck if Hegseth is still in office. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries promised before the election to "run Pete Hegseth out of town," Democrats now hold both chambers, and impeachment is on the table. A Navy admiral Hegseth removed flipped Nancy Mace's South Carolina House seat on Tuesday.
The last time a Pentagon chief became a midterm casualty, Donald Rumsfeld resigned the day after Republicans lost Congress in 2006.