Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has spent plenty of time on national television squawking about the “leakers” he fired, but he never stopped to consider what would happen if people asked for evidence.
And as his former Fox News colleagues are rallying behind the “leakers”—identified as Darin Selnick, Dan Caldwell, and Colin Carroll—even they are saying that Hegseth’s up to something fishy.
According to Politico, White House insiders said that Vice President JD Vance’s aides started conducting their own investigations into whether or not Hegseth’s claims were substantiated.
Despite reportedly yelling, “I’ll hook you up to a fucking polygraph,” to then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Christopher Gray, Hegseth seems to be unable to hand over any proof to Vance’s aides that any leaks occurred.
“If there’s any chance at Pete resetting and ensuring that whatever time he has left in this position is well served, he’s got to do it—otherwise Pete is just doubling down on the lie,” a source told Politico.
On top of his flimsy “leakers” allegation, it wasn’t too long ago that Hegseth was in the hot seat for sharing war plans in a Signal group chat, which accidentally included a journalist.
While Hegseth seems to be making headlines for all of the wrong reasons since taking over the Pentagon, one White House insider doesn’t think that it’ll have much sway over President Donald Trump’s favorable view of him.
“A lot of people swirl shit to try to take him down, honestly—but talk of drama with him is overblown,” they told Politico. “What I know is that everyone who matters has his back completely, currently.”
If a sexual assault case and being booted from multiple positions for drinking and sexual misconduct wasn’t enough to stop Trump from nominating him to run the Defense Department, then this probably won’t move the needle much either.
But Hegseth’s circle seems to be getting smaller, even as he’s in Trump’s good graces. And with his closest White House confidants being under the microscope, insiders are preparing their popcorn.
As one source told Politico, “There’s going to be more shoes to drop all around.”