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WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared to acknowledge that the Pentagon has developed plans to take over Greenland and Panama by force if necessary but refused to answer repeated questions at a hotly combative congressional hearing Thursday about his use of Signal chats to discuss military operations. Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee repeatedly got into heated exchanges with Hegseth, with some of the toughest lines of questioning coming from military veterans as many demanded yes or no answers and he tried to avoid direct responses about his actions as Pentagon chief. In one back-and-forth, Hegseth...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced late Saturday night that in addition to the National Guardsmen — who were being deployed to restore order in Los Angeles — he was placing active duty U.S. Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton on high alert. Hegseth’s announcement, made via a post on X, came just hours after it was reported that President Donald Trump was invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 in order to deploy a number of National Guard troops as protesters clashed violently with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the Los Angeles area. “The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal...

For the first time since the U.S. created an international group to coordinate military aid to Ukraine three years ago, America’s Pentagon chief will not be in attendance when more than 50 other defense leaders meet Wednesday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who returned from a national security conference in Singapore on Sunday, will not arrive in Brussels until Wednesday evening, after the Ukraine Defense Contact Group’s meeting is over. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss scheduling details, confirmed that Hegseth also will not participate by video conference. It is the latest in a series of steps...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the United States Navy to remove the name of slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk from oiler USNS Harvey Milk, according to several reports. A memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, which was viewed by Military.com, showed that the Navy was preparing to change the name of the ship, and a “defense official” confirmed to the outlet that Hegseth had ordered U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Phelan to change the name of the ship: A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparation to strip the ship of its...

MAGA supporters have erupted in fury over Saturday Night Live's latest political sketch featuring a deeply personal dig at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The controversial segment, which aired this weekend, featured former cast member Cecily Strong returning as Judge Jeanine Pirro alongside Colin Jost portraying Hegseth as her 'drinking buddy.' In the sketch, Strong repeatedly made light of alleged alcohol issues that the real-life Defense Secretary has vehemently denied. 'I love Pete Hegseth. He's my old drinking buddy,' Strong's Pirro said. When Jost then entered the scene as Hegseth, Pirro was so surprised that she sprayed wine all over his...

One of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s top advisers has recommended that the Defense Department cut ties with Scouting America, known for decades as the Boy Scouts, saying it is too “woke” to support, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.Tami Radabaugh, the deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for strategic engagement and a direct adviser to Hegseth, has been lobbying other senior officials to suspend the Pentagon’s decades-old relationship with the group, including arguing that when Hegseth was a host on Fox News, he decried Scouting America as an organization that had "lost what they stand for," the...

WASHINGTON — The drama surrounding Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon has a new lead player: a top aide known to his detractors as “Rasputin Ricky.” Ricky Buria, the defense secretary’s de facto chief of staff, is a rare Biden administration holdover and an internal critic of Vice President JD Vance’s “wackamamie crazy” and “isolationist” views — who has also slammed President Trump’s use of the military for immigration enforcement as “dumb.” Buria, 43, is also considered “incredibly intelligent and hardworking,” has fashioned himself as a China hawk and is seen by Hegseth as an effective administrator who keeps the office running smoothly...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson This is the most powerful 17 second speech ever given by a Secretary of Defense. This is why do they want to destroy @PeteHegseth so badly. This is it… From Concerned Citizen 8:23 PM · May 6, 2025

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Monday that the U.S. Military will soon be undergoing a massive reduction in the number of general officers across all branches. In a video statement posted to social media, Hegseth announced the General and Flag Officer Reductions initiative, or as he calls it, the “Less Generals, More GI’s,” reform. “It’s a historic one, and it’s in keeping with President Trump’s commitment to achieving peace through strength. We’re going to shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfighters,” the Defense Secretary said. Hegseth then provided a brief history lesson on the military’s historic command, noting...

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) claimed Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead” that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s dangerous conduct was becoming close to impeachable. Speaking to CNN congressional reporter Manu Raju, Blumenthal said, “Hegseth is a danger to our national security. Our military is supposed to be nonpolitical, and what Hegseth is doing is not only defiling the principle but diminishing our national defense. And I think at some point, this kind of conduct is impeachable.” Host Jake Tapper said, “That is Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut today. A reminder to Secretary Hegseth, you have an open invitation to come on...

The Pentagon Inspector General expanded his investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the double-encrypted app Signal. Steven Stebbins took over as Acting Inspector General after President Trump fired the previous IG and 17 other inspectors general. Stebbins was first appointed to his position in 2015. Pete Hegseth has been under heavy attack since before his confirmation hearing and the leaks keep coming.

The last time there was a War Department, Hollywood still made most of its movies in black and white, and Americans were falling in love with a new entertainment device called the TV set. They cost an average of $400 each. The year was 1949. In at least one respect, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to turn the calendar back to that time. The nation’s military forces were organized under the War Department, and Hegseth believes that term, with its bold martial overtones, better suits his desire to remake the armed services to emphasize fighting and killing. The Trump administration...

Former United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice bucked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s intelligence following weeks of scrutiny over leaks at the Pentagon amid massive spending reductions at the Department of Defense (DOD). Rice, who previously served as national security adviser in the Obama administration, questioned Hegseth’s proven ability to lead on an international level in conversation with “No Lie With BTC” podcast host Brian Taylor Cohen. “Well, if you’re a white male Christian cisgender macho MAGA man, you can be as dumb as a rock and be deemed qualified to serve as secretary of Defense. That’s apparently what we’ve learned from...

It’s been three months since Vice President Vance cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary. The Deep State worked hard to scuttle Hegseth’s nomination in December and January with a steady drip of news stories calling his character into question, but President Trump and his trusted veep stood by their man and applied enough pressure on wayward Republican senators to secure his confirmation. Suddenly, corporate propagandists posing as reporters are back with fresh stories meant to undermine Secretary Hegseth and get him fired from the Pentagon’s top post. It’s almost as if the Deep State tabled...

President Donald Trump’s administration has declared war on those who declared war on American citizens. After all, among other things, the Trump administration values freedom, security, merit, and health. And those who declared war on American citizens did so in part by attacking all of those things. Friday morning on the social media platform X, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to an alarming new report about the incidence of obesity among National Guard and Reserve troops by calling the situation “completely unacceptable” and pledging a new military made up of “FIT, not FAT” service members. “This is what happens when...

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has formally terminated the service of every member sitting on the Department of Defense’s advisory committees. Based on the information available on the website as of Thursday, the now-defunct panels included several well-known Democrats and Bush-era Republicans. Janine Davidson (Chair) – Former Under Secretary of the Navy under Obama. A staunch Democrat and longtime proponent of Obama-era military reforms, now steering Pentagon policy advice. Michèle Flournoy – Held major Pentagon roles under Clinton and Obama; often discussed as a potential Secretary of Defense under Hillary Clinton or Biden. Colin Kahl – National Security Advisor to...

President Donald Trump plans to meet on Thursday with Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who published the Signal story in March and the hoax story claiming Trump called fallen World War I soldiers “suckers” and “losers.” Trump announced in the late morning Truth Social post that he would be meeting with Goldberg and two other Atlantic reporters for a meeting: Later today I will be meeting with, of all people, Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor of The Atlantic, and the person responsible for many fictional stories about me, including the made-up HOAX on “Suckers and Losers” and, SignalGate, something he was somewhat...

CARLISLE, Pennsylvania — Minutes after giving a policy-rich address to senior-level military students, faculty, and staff at the Army War College here in rural Cumberland County, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview with the Washington Examiner that he relished the occasion to detail the Pentagon’s focus going forward. ... “They knew that from the minute he chose me and through my entire confirmation process, from the minute I walked into the building to the first initiatives we took, that is DEI is dead at DOD,” he said of his February order to nuke all digital DEI content at...

Another day, another leak. More information on the second Hegseth Signal chat group was leaked to NBC News. As previously reported, three Hegseth aides placed on leave amid a probe into leaks were officially fired last Friday. Following the terminations, contents of another Signal group chat with Pete Hegseth were leaked to The Wall Street Journal. “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created a Signal chat with his wife, his personal lawyer and others, and posted sensitive military information into it, people familiar with the matter said Sunday, a revelation that has added to the increasing scrutiny of the novice leader,” The...

WASHINGTON — Minutes before U.S. fighter jets took off to begin strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last month, Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command, used a secure U.S. government system to send detailed information about the operation to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The material Kurilla sent included details about when U.S. fighters would take off and when they would hit their targets — details that could, if they fell into the wrong hands, put the pilots of those fighters in grave danger. But he was doing exactly what he was supposed to: providing Hegseth,...