Hegseth's military leaders meeting: Trump will attend, reportedly speak

New details on Hegseth's military leadership meeting

National security analyst Hal Kempfer joins LiveNOW's Austin Westfall to discuss next week's reported military leadership meeting ordered by Secretary Hegseth.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s meeting with top military leaders will now be attended by President Donald Trump, and he’ll also be speaking at the meeting, according to an AP source. 

Here’s what to know about Tuesday’s plans: 

Hegseth military leaders meeting

The backstory:

Hundreds of generals and admirals were summoned last week, with little notice, by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for a meeting in the U.S. 

READ MORE: Hegseth summons hundreds of generals, admirals for urgent meeting

What they're saying:

Those with initial knowledge of the summons described the move as unusual to The Associated Press, though Vice President JD Vance argued that the media had turned it into a "big story" and that it was "not particularly unusual that generals who report to" Hegseth are coming to speak with him.

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC that he would attend the meeting, and that they’d be "talking about how well we're doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things."

FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth during a September 11th observance event in the courtyard of the Pentagon September 11, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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By the numbers:

The meeting is expected to involve approximately 800 generals and admirals who are based all throughout the U.S. and stationed in various parts of the world, FOX News Digital reported. The Associated Press says senior commanders of the one-star rank or higher and their top advisers were summoned.

What we know:

The meeting will take place Tuesday at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia.

The Associated Press reported on Monday that the president's participation was not part of the original plan for the meeting but that he decided that he wanted to go, and that he’d now be speaking.

What we don't know:

The reason Hegseth called the meeting is still unknown, and it’s not clear what topics will be discussed or how long the meeting will last.

Though unlikely, it also wasn’t immediately clear if any portion of the meeting would be open to the media and available to be streamed.