He explained that he enlisted in the DC National Guard after joining Fox News due to flexibility in his schedule and the urge to continue serving his country in some way after leaving the military. He was a part of the unit during January 6, which he was also reporting on for Fox. Right after January 6 came the inauguration of Joe Biden.
"So I had orders like everybody else, like everyone, to go defend the inauguration of Joe Biden ... and I was ready to go," Hegseth said, before revealing he was then called from a senior leader in his unit and told to "stand down." When he pressed about the reasoning behind the order, the leader refused to give an explanation. He said that in that moment, he "had a sense" something was off and handed in his resignation from the unit on January 20, 2021.
While Hegseth was writing his book, he explained, he called one of those overseeing officers from that unit who agreed to speak with him about the incident and said, "Hey, I know for certain because I was on them in the meetings and on the phone calls and the emails, and even had some of them that you were identified as a domestic extremist or a white nationalist, because of a tattoo you have on your chest."
"Sir, that's it's a Jerusalem cross. It's a very straightforward Christian religious symbol," Hegseth said in return, adding that the officer told him he tried to explain that to his superiors but that they "didn't want to hear it" and he was deemed an extremist which was approved "higher up the chain of command."
"Now, was it because of a Christian tattoo? Was it because I was a Trump supporter? Was it because I work at Fox? I don't know," Hegseth contemplated. "None of those are acceptable answers. But it was ... I was not alone. And it was because of political ideology. And they were in the process of identifying people they did not want in the ranks, at least for that."
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