{"id":9254,"date":"2026-08-17T21:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9254"},"modified":"2026-08-17T21:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:08:08","slug":"hegseth-travels-to-iowa-in-his-personal-capacity-amid-2028-speculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9254","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth travels to Iowa in his \u2018personal capacity\u2019 amid 2028 speculation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Officials familiar with the defense secretary\u2019s thinking believe he is considering a run for president or some other office after his time in the Trump administration ends.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Planned Parenthood to spend more than $600,000 against Susan Collins in Maine<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon in July. (Annabelle Gordon\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday is traveling to Iowa in his \u201cpersonal capacity,\u201d the Pentagon said in a statement, further fueling speculation that the former Fox News personality is mulling a run for president at some point.<\/p>\n

The visit, reported earlier by CBS News<\/a>, comes five months after Hegseth was scheduled to appear<\/a> at a political rally and fundraising event with Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), who is running for reelection this year. That trip was postponed after several U.S. troops from Iowa were killed early in the war with Iran.<\/p>\n

In response to questions, the Pentagon said in a statement that it does \u201cnot proactively announce events\u201d that Hegseth attends \u201cin his personal capacity.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises<\/a><\/p>\n

Hegseth will take a U.S.-funded military aircraft to Iowa, the Pentagon said. He is doing so because he is \u201cdesignated as a \u2018required use\u2019 traveler\u201d by the U.S. government \u201cand is mandated to use military aircraft for all travel, both official and unofficial, due to the continuous need for secure communications and responsive transportation for national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials familiar with Hegseth\u2019s thinking believe that he is considering a run for president or some other political office after his time in the Trump administration is over. The travel to Iowa, a presidential campaign providing ground, fits that pattern, one of those officials said Monday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to be candid.<\/p>\n

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Read more Trump meets with teen lifeguard who saved child from pounding surf<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Officials familiar with the defense secretary\u2019s thinking believe he is considering a run for president or some other office after his time in the Trump administration ends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nHegseth travels to Iowa in his \u2018personal capacity\u2019 amid 2028 speculation - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9254\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hegseth travels to Iowa in his \u2018personal capacity\u2019 amid 2028 speculation - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Officials familiar with the defense secretary\u2019s thinking believe he is considering a run for president or some other office after his time in the Trump administration ends.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9254\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-17T21:08:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/a45129ce26c571d24ddd5698e6198629-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Hegseth travels to Iowa in his \u2018personal capacity\u2019 amid 2028 speculation\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-17T21:08:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254\"},\"wordCount\":346,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/6249efc9a24084f534179164f9b03ba9-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254\",\"name\":\"Hegseth travels to Iowa in his \u2018personal capacity\u2019 amid 2028 speculation - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/6249efc9a24084f534179164f9b03ba9-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-17T21:08:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=9254#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/6249efc9a24084f534179164f9b03ba9-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/6249efc9a24084f534179164f9b03ba9-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a Mexican Border Defense Medal Ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on July 27, 2026. 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