(FILES) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (L) conducts a prayer as US President Donald Trump (R) listens during a dinner with state governors in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 21, 2026. In February, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth invited Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson, who opposes women voting or serving in combat roles, to preach at the Defense Department. Six months earlier, Hegseth attended the first service of a new church planted in Washington by Wilson's small, ultra-conservative denomination based out of Moscow, Idaho, called the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC). (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)