2 months ago
3
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said that President Donald Trump’s White House is less than pleased with how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been handling the recent controversies within the Pentagon.
Hegseth faced major scrutiny this week after the Times published a report detailing chaos and distrust that has been running rampant at the Defense Department.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In addition to reportedly sharing military information with his family, lawyer and close associates in a second Signal group chat, Hegseth also turned heads after firing aides last week, suggesting that they leaked information to the media.
“They’ve come after me from day one,” Hegseth said. “Just like they’ve come after President Trump. And I’ve gotten a fraction of what President Trump got in that first term. What he’s endured is superhuman.”
According to Haberman, Hegseth’s interview did not sit well with the White House.
“The interview this morning was not seen as a home run,” Haberman told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday. “I mean, even among Hegseth’s allies outside the administration, it was seen as, you know, a little disorienting and a little disjointed.”
Haberman added that Hegseth firing the Pentagon aides “caught a lot of ears as well.”
“It was also really striking to people that Hegseth was basically describing a process of frog-marching his own people out of the building, while then saying, ‘And, you know, we’re doing an investigation now, and we’ll see where it leads.’”
A U.S. official who remained anonymous told NPR that the White House already has begun looking to replace Hegseth. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called NPR’s report “total FAKE NEWS,” stating that Trump is standing behind his pick for secretary of defense.
This @NPR story is total FAKE NEWS based on one anonymous source who clearly has no idea what they are talking about.
As the President said this morning, he stands strongly behind @SecDef. https://t.co/5Npig8968v
Haberman told Collins that despite Trump’s support for Hegseth, the president still “does not like bad headlines.”
We Don't Work For Billionaires. We Work For You.
Big money interests are running the government — and influencing the news you read. While other outlets are retreating behind paywalls and bending the knee to political pressure, HuffPost is proud to be unbought and unfiltered. Will you help us keep it that way? You can even access our stories ad-free.
You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest — we could use your help again. We won't back down from our mission of providing free, fair news during this critical moment. But we can't do it without you.
For the first time, we're offering an ad-free experience to qualifying contributors who support our fearless journalism. We hope you'll join us.
You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest — we could use your help again. We won't back down from our mission of providing free, fair news during this critical moment. But we can't do it without you.
For the first time, we're offering an ad-free experience to qualifying contributors who support our fearless journalism. We hope you'll join us.
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
We Work For You.Not Billionaires.
Big money interests are running the government — and influencing the news you read. While other outlets are retreating behind paywalls and bending the knee to political pressure, HuffPost is proud to be unbought and unfiltered. Will you help us keep it that way? You can even access our stories ad-free.
Protect Free Journalism
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“We will see how long this stays in the news, but this morning was not seen as quelling it,” Haberman said.
English (US) ·