Tag Archive for: pete hegseth

EXCLUSIVE: White House Celebrates Army’s Big Birthday With Video Series

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The White House is releasing a video Thursday celebrating the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary as part of a history series that tells the story of American Independence, the Daily Caller learned first.

To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the White House Salute to America 250 Task Force partnered with Hillsdale College to release a series of videos about the story of America’s founding. Wednesday’s video, the second video in the series, features Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who tells the origin story of the U.S. Army.

The video, obtained first by the Caller, explains how the Second Continental Congress decided to create an army, how George Washington led the troops, as well as the victories of Trenton and Princeton.

HEGSETH: “We’re not interested in your woke garbage and your political correctness.”

*Troops go wild in applause* pic.twitter.com/yTpW11Kg3C

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 10, 2025

The video series began with an introduction from Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, who explained its dedication to the Declaration of Independence. The first video also covered the battles of Lexington and Concord. Both videos can be found on the White House 250 website.

“These battles were more than military engagements. They were seminal moments that gave birth to our nation,” Hegseth says in the second video. “Every volley fired, every battle one and every sacrifice paid moved our nation one step closer to the promised self-determination and freedom.”

The second video is being released in accordance with President Donald Trump’s $45 million military parade set to be held June 14 in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary and Flag Day. Trump also visited Fort Bragg with Hegseth on Tuesday to give a speech celebrating the Army’s birthday.

The celebration Saturday is expected to include more than 6,600 soldiers, over 50 military aircrafts and 150 military vehicles, including tanks, Humvees, and other equipment.

The parade is the first of many celebrations the president plans to have to pay tribute to America’s founding, telling NBC News that he wants to establish a national “Victory Days” recognizing U.S. triumphs in both World War I and World War II.

In the video, Hegseth explains the importance of remembering the Army’s formation since “their story defines us all.”

“The Army story begins in the spring of 1775, one month after the Massachusetts militia humbled British regulars at the battles of Lexington and Concord, America’s colonial leaders assembled in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. The meeting had been called to address long standing grievances with Britain’s imperial government, but the recent bloodshed at Lexington and Concord fundamentally changed the purpose of the gathering,” Hegseth says.

“Until then, many colonists had hoped for reconciliation with their mother country. It was increasingly clear that freedom would not be possible without war,” he continues.

Disclaimer: Reagan Reese, an author of this article, is an alumna of Hillsdale College. 

AUTHORS

Reagan Reese and Sally Lynne

Contributors.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Trump 2.0 Takes Chainsaw To The Deep State With Historic Cuts Of Staff, Budgets

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The intelligence community is quietly undergoing structural changes as agencies tackle government bloat, reorganize departments and dismantle the Biden administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.

One of Trump’s first directives targeted weaponization in the federal government, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) — which oversees the IC — is focused on uprooting the politicization of the agency.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard launched the Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) in April to end government weaponization and increase transparency, and she recently announced that the agency is now 25% leaner.

“The 25% reduction in the staff includes both permanent ODNI cadre officers and detailees from other IC elements, who will be returned to their home agencies as ODNI streamlines its mission space,” a source familiar told the Daily Caller.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe is also eying politicization and potential waste in his agency.

“Director Ratcliffe has made it clear that the CIA will pursue President Trump’s national security priorities with laser-like focus,” CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons told the Daily Caller. “The Agency is determined to provide the President with an unparalleled intelligence advantage and, under Director Ratcliffe, we are aggressively doing just that.”

Ratcliffe vowed to restructure the CIA to “eliminate” politicization during a recent cabinet meeting with the president.

Similarly, Deputy Director Michael Ellis warned against politicization in a February message to CIA staff, noting their work needs “to be free from politics, bias, or any other distraction.”

Conservatives have accused the IC of politicization for years.

The FBI relied on the since since-debunked Steele dossier to accuse former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, of being a Russian agent. The bureau also reportedly surveilled school board parents and raided the homes of pro-life protesters.

Fifty-one former officials signed a letter casting doubt on the New York Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s emails, falsely claiming it had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation, even though when Ratcliffe served as DNI during Trump’s first term, he determined there was no evidence Hunter Biden’s laptop was a “Russian disinformation campaign.”

Now, the IC is dealing with “deep state actors” leaking classified information to the press. Sources leaked to the The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in May about the IC’s plans to surveille Greenland.

Gabbard slammed the leakers as “deep state actors” who are “politicizing and leaking classified information” in a statement to WSJ.

The CIA is being revamped, but Ratcliffe has not made the “kind of broad cuts” required of other agencies, a Thursday report from CNN claimed.

Although Trump’s federal workforce directives can include national security exemptions, Lyons told the Caller that Ratcliffe is zeroing-in on ways the agency can be more efficient.

“Under Director Ratcliffe, the CIA is implementing President Trump’s Executive Orders to ensure that the workforce is responsive to the Trump Administration’s national security priorities,” she stated. “Even if exemptions are available for national security reasons, the Director believes that CIA can improve efficiency, which is why he invited Mr. Musk to headquarters earlier this year for his insight.”

Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), visited the CIA and met with Ratcliffe in April to discuss DOGE’s efforts to improve government efficiency.

While the agency’s operations are often shrouded in secrecy, Ratcliffe fired officers involved in DEI and dismissed a CIA official who played a key role in Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the military.

The Trump administration plans to reduce the CIA’s workforce by about 1,200 people over multiple years, The Washington Post reported, citing a source familiar.

Ratcliffe emphasized “meritocracy” in an unclassified March 31 CIA memo obtained by the Caller.

“Moving forward, you will be part of a smaller, more elite and efficient workforce,” he wrote. “We will need everyone at CIA to prioritize efforts that add the greatest value and reduce those we can no longer afford to do.”

He added that “the years of growing budgets and resources are behind [CIA].”

The CIA is also reorienting its focus toward Latin America, specifically the drug cartels. This is a shift from the past two decades, where the CIA has been primarily concerned with Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the New York Times (NYT) reported in 2021.

Trump designated the cartels “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” in one of his first executive orders.

The CIA merged the Western Hemisphere Mission Center (WHMC) and the Counternarcotics Center (CNC) into one unit — the Americas and Counternarcotics Mission Center (ACMC), according to an unclassified April 14 CIA memo obtained by the Caller.

Trump expects the agency to “play a prominent role” in targeting transnational cartels, the memo noted.

The CIA has reportedly been operating a covert drone program to identify fentanyl laboratories in Mexico, anonymous officials told the NYT.

The agency is considering using “lethal force” against Mexican drug cartels, a U.S. official and three people familiar told CNN in April. The CIA is reviewing its authorities and assessing the potential risks of targeting the cartels, according to the outlet.

The agency has also recently made efforts to improve intelligence collection on Russia and China.

The National Security Agency (NSA) is reportedly also facing cuts under Trump’s new vision for the IC. The agency has been ordered to slash “up to 2,000 civilian roles,” three people familiar told Recorded Future News.

The NSA is a signals intelligence (SIGNT) agency within the Department of Defense (DOD). Trump fired Biden-appointed NSA Director Timothy Haugh in April.

The NSA referred the Daily Caller to DOD for questions about restructuring.

“NSA is focused on carrying out the priorities of the President, Secretary of Defense, and Director of National Intelligence, which include evaluating and making strategic adjustments to its civilian workforce,” a DOD spokesperson told the Caller.

“As a combat support agency, NSA is working with the Department to meet [DOD’s] goals and ensure that workforce adjustments are conducted while we continue to execute NSA’s SIGINT and Cybersecurity missions,” the statement continued.

The DOD intends to target its “bloated headquarters,” Hegseth announced in early May.

He introduced the General and Flag Officer Reductions Policy, or the “Less Generals More GIs” directive in a video.

Hegseth ordered at least a 20% reduction of 4-star positions in the Active Component, 20% reduction of the National Guard’s general officers and a minimum 10% reduction in general and flag officers, according to a DOD memo.

“We’re going to shift resources from bloated headquarters’ elements to our warfighters,” Hegseth stated in the video.

He also directed $5.1 billion in “wasteful spending” cuts in accordance with DOGE’s findings in April.

However, the Trump administration has proposed a record $1 trillion defense budget — even though the Pentagon has yet to pass an audit.

The law enforcement arm of the IC is also not immune to restructuring.

Trump’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget includes a $545 million cut to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), citing a reduction in “DEI programs, pet projects of the [Biden] administration, and duplicative intelligence activities,” according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The proposal’s recommendations concern discretionary funding.

The Caller reached out to the FBI for comment on the budget proposal and examples of any waste, fraud or abuse the bureau has eliminated. The bureau referred the Caller to Patel’s comments during committee hearings.

FBI Director Kash Patel testified in May before the House Appropriations Committee and said the bureau was “trying to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.”

Patel is reorganizing the agency to “streamline operations,” according to his May 8 opening statement. The FBI is “ensuring that the Bureau is a good steward of taxpayer dollars,” his statement added.

However, Patel pushed back against the OMB’s proposal to slash funding during his hearing. He told congressmembers the budget cuts were not what the FBI had requested.

“The proposed budget that I put forward is to cover us for $11.1 billion which would not have us cut any positions … we need more than what has been proposed,” he told Democrat Connecticut Rep. Rose DeLauro.

Patel appeared to reverse his comments the following day, and he expressed support for OMB’s budget when testifying before the Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee.

“We will make and agree with this budget as it stands and make it work,” he told Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen during the senate hearing.

“I was simply asking for more funds because I can do more with more money,” Patel added.

Rep. DeLauro asked what positions would be cut due to the funding reduction, and Patel said he is not looking to cut positions.

“Ma’am, at this time, we have not looked at who to cut,” he answered. “We are focusing our energies on how not to have them cut.”

In addition to restructuring the intelligence community’s workforce, Trump has sought to eliminate DEI from federal agencies.

The CIA, ODNI, FBI and NSA have made efforts to comply with Trump’s executive orders, including by removing DEI language from government websites.

Notably, the FBI closed its DEI office in December 2024.

DNI Gabbard told Trump during a cabinet meeting that she closed the IC Human Capital Office, deeming it a “DEI slush fund.”

Additionally, Gabbard fired over 100 intelligence staffers who were in sexually explicit NSA chats.

Former President Biden’s CIA Director William J. Burns prioritized DEI, a CIA official told the Caller.

Under the Trump administration, however, the agency has scrapped its DEI office.

“Director Burns made it clear that strengthening diversity and inclusion at CIA was one of his highest priorities,” the official said. “Under Director Ratcliffe, there has been a significant change — the DEI office has been shut down and mission objectives are prioritized instead.”

AUTHOR

Eireann Van Natta

Associate Editor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Hamas-linked CAIR top dog enraged that Hegseth has a tattoo calling himself what the Qur’an calls Christians

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“They indeed have disbelieved [kafara] who say, Indeed, Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. Say, Who then can do anything against Allah, if he had willed to destroy the Messiah son of Mary, and his mother and everyone on earth? To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He creates what he wills. And Allah is able to do all things.” (Qur’an 5:17)

AUTHOR

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Inside JD Vance’s Tone-Setting Trip To The Southern Border

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EAGLE PASS, Texas – As the vice president’s motorcade zipped by a long stretch of border wall Tuesday, the barrier quickly turned from solid structure to a patchwork of old train cars and razor wire.

The motorcade turned into Shelby Park, an area Gov. Greg Abbott seized so officials could put up razor wire and barriers to help deter crossings coming from the Rio Grande. Standing in the middle of the park at a podium, the location quickly became symbolic of how the administration is addressing the border crisis.

“I think the president’s hope is that by the end of the term, we build the entire border wall. And, of course, that’s the physical structure, the border wall itself,” the vice president said in response to the Daily Caller’s question about how much of the border needs to be walled off before President Donald Trump leaves office.

Just about six weeks into the administration, Vance was at the border and he didn’t go alone. Vance spent the entire day trip with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. They did an aerial tour of the American side of the border in a Black Hawk, visited border facilities and met with lawmakers, border patrol agents and other leaders.

At Eagle Pass, Texas, which was once a hub of illegal immigrants crossing the border, he touted the administration’s progress at mitigating the migration crisis.

“I will say that the most heartening message that I take away from my visit here at the Texas border is the number of border patrol agents who have come up to me and said, ‘thank you,’” Vance told reporters.

“Or said, ‘Because of this, we’ve cut the number of border crossings from 1,500 a day to 30 a day.’ Or the people who have come up and said, ‘we’ve seen a reduction of 85% of the number of people who are dying at the American southern border,’ and every single day that we continue to keep this border safe, that means less migrant crime, that means less fentanyl coming into our communities,” Vance continued at his press conference.

About five months earlier, Vance’s predecessor stopped at the southern border while making a run for the White House. Former Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign planned a stop to visit a section of the border in Douglas, Arizona, where she gave remarks and called for a solution to the border crisis. It was her first trip to a section of the southern border in three years, after Biden gave her the job of addressing the “root causes of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.” 

At the time, an analysis by The New York Times found that under the Biden administration, the level of net migration into the country was the largest in the country’s history. The 2024 U.S. fiscal year was the second worst in history for illegal immigration.

Since taking office, Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders, like a national emergency declaration allowing him to divert more military resources to the U.S.-Mexico border and another to resume border wall construction. Other executive orders included a designation of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a pause on refugee admissions and an end to birthright citizenship for individuals born on U.S. soil to illegal migrant parents.

There were 101,790 migrant encounters at the southern border in September, the final month of fiscal year 2024, according to data released Tuesday by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The Trump administration has touted figures trying to show how its actions in roughly the first month have dramatically impacted the border crisis. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed that the administration marked the lowest single-day apprehension number in over 15 years, with 200 migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border on Feb. 22. Trump also announced that during his first few weeks in office there were 8,326 migrant apprehensions at the border.

To build on this, Vance repeatedly referenced a line from Trump’s joint congressional address the night before.

“As you saw, the president said yesterday, I think it’s maybe the most important part of his speech, is that we didn’t need new laws to secure the border. We needed a new president, and thank God we have that,” Vance said to a group of Texas and border patrol leaders Wednesday.

“I’ve heard already from a number of the folks that I’ve talked to in border patrol, that all we needed to do was empower these guys to do their job,” he continued.

The trip was not just about celebrating. After taking an aerial tour of the border, the trio of administration officials visited Eagle Pass Border Patrol Station to participate in a roundtable with a variety of leaders, including Abbott, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the mayor of Eagle Pass, the chief of Border Patrol and National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd, to discuss further how they could get the border under control.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Vance acknowledged that the administration had more work to do.

“First of all, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we have seen pretty significant decreases in deportations and apprehensions and arrests. But we have to remember that President Biden gutted the entire immigration enforcement regime of this country. We are trying to rebuild so that we actually empower people to enforce the immigration laws,” the vice president told reporters.

He also hinted that Trump has more announcements coming on how the administration will secure the southern border, a topic that is sometimes overlooked as the media focuses on Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. “I don’t want to get ahead of any public announcements, but one of the ways that we wanted to make sure that we’re enforcing our border is that we make it easier for people who are here illegally to go back home of their own accord,” Vance explained.

“We don’t want to have to go around and arrest every person, but we will enforce the American people’s immigration laws if you’re here illegally, the message from our administration is, you should go back home,” Vance added. “If you want to come to the United States, apply through the proper channels, that’s an important thing that we’re doing.”

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House reporter. Follow Reagan on Twitter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

‘Completely Unhinged’: Victor Davis Hanson Says Dems’ Fury Against Trump Nominees During Hearings Is Political Misstep

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Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson explained on Friday how Democratic senators’ attacks on President Donald Trump’s nominees during confirmation hearings are backfiring politically because of conservatives’ current ability to push their messages more effectively online.

Many Democratic senators have taken adversarial approaches to Trump’s cabinet nominees, including screaming at them, interrupting them and hurling accusations against them. Hanson, on “Victor Davis Hanson Show,” said that Trump’s nominees have all excelled at their hearings as they have come under fire from Democrats.

WATCH:

“The funny thing about all these nominees that some of the RINOs [Republicans in name only] in the party deprecated: Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, man when they go before those people— Sean Duffy — they have all of the answers,” Hanson said. “They’re really impressive people and they go head-to-head. It’s kind of they have a wink and a nod, and I think their logic, I’m just suggesting this, I don’t have any confirmation, but their attitude — they go in very confident.”

“So, their attitude is basically, ‘I have 53 senator votes and you have none to stop me. You can’t stop me. Now you think you’re going to get [Republican senators Lisa] Murkowski and [Susan] Collins and maybe Mitch [McConnel]? I can still get confirmed,’” he continued. “‘So, I’m not going to kiss up to you in any way possible. In fact, the only thing I worry about is not getting 50 senators. And the only way I would not get 50 senators is to sell out Donald Trump, and I’m not going to do that. I’m not stupid, and I don’t want to anyway.’ And that gives them a lot of confidence.”

McConnell, Murkowski and Collins all voted against Hegseth’s confirmation to be secretary of defense, but Vice President J.D. Vance broke the tie to confirm him on Jan. 24. His confirmation followed a hearing that included Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine accusing him of infidelity and Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand lecturing him for eight minutes about women serving in the military.

“And then you get these people frustrated, like [Democratic Massachusetts Sen.] Elizabeth Warren. She’s come off as completely unhinged. And then they don’t understand the media that the left — polling right now — 37% — and I guess it was the latest Emerson poll, 37% said they approve of the Democratic Party,” Hanson added. “Do they understand how they drive that down when somebody like Elizabeth Warren just cuts off [Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] RFK, won’t let him answer a question, screams and yells.”

Hanson referenced how Warren pressed Kennedy to “commit” to not accepting compensation for any lawsuits against drug companies during his potential tenure at HHS and for four years after, which prompted a heated exchange. He asserted that immediately after the clash, “the right-wing blogosphere” noted that Warren and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were the two senators who raised the most money in pharmaceutical contributions.

Senators on both sides of the aisle who critically questioned Kennedy at his Wednesday and Thursday hearings found their contributions from the healthcare industry and their personal investments in the pharmaceutical industry and companies that make highly processed food being highlighted on X, receiving millions of views.

The Democratic Party’s approval rating plunged to 31% among registered voters, according to Quinnipiac polling released Wednesday.

Sanders exploded at Kennedy during his Thursday confirmation hearing after the nominee accused him of corruption for accepting pharmaceutical industry donations. Hanson suggested Warren and Sanders are examples of “hypocrites that are defending big pharma against RFK,” saying “that doesn’t work” because of conservatives’ ability to push their agenda in part because of how billionaire Elon Musk has run social media platform X.

Hanson also said Democrats wrongly assumed attorney general nominee Pam Bondi was “just a blonde bimbo” and that they could “tear her apart.” He said that she instead “t[ore] them apart.” He similarly said they underestimated Hegseth.

“And then they see Pete Hegseth. And they go, ‘This guy is weird. He’s got the Jerusalem cross, you know, and he’s been married three times. And we’re just going to slice him up because I’m Senator Sanders and I’m Senator [Chuck] Schumer, I’m Senator Warren, I’m Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.’ And then he just destroys them,” Hanson said.

He also said Kennedy “destroyed” the Democratic senators while FBI Director nominee Kash Patel dealt with them “like carving a Christmas turkey.”

AUTHOR

Jason Cohen

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Hegseth Confirmed As Secretary Of Defense After Chaotic Process

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Pete Hegseth was confirmed Friday as the 29th secretary of Defense after a contentious Senate confirmation process.

The vote was split down party lines, with 50 votes for and 50 votes against and Vice President JD Vance set to break the tie, according to the unofficial tally. Hegseth will oversee the U.S. armed forces’ domestic and foreign activities as its civilian head.

“Pete has a unique perspective as a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is unquestionably passionate about modernizing our military and supporting the brave patriots like himself who serve our nation,” Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who was rumored to have defected with his vote, said on X Friday. “I will support his confirmation and look forward to working with him to rebuild our military and advance President Trump’s peace through strength agenda.”

Republican defections included Republican Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins.

Hegseth’s confirmation hearing was tense, as his allegations of sexual assault and past comments on women’s role in the military drew harsh attacks from Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Despite the attacks, he drew praise from his Republican colleagues for his performance.

He was also accused of abusing alcohol at work at Fox News and multiple instances of marital infidelity, drawing more character criticisms from the Democrats.

Hegseth was previously a host on Fox and Friends before accepting the nomination. He also previously served as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to his website.

Numerous veterans and military colleagues who have served alongside Hegseth endorsed his nomination.

Hegseth is a chief advocate for removing so-called “wokeness” from the military, calling it unnecessary and saying it causes a disconnect between the rank and file and senior leadership. Many military experts have blamed left-wing initiatives for the current recruitment crisis in the armed forces.

He also supports leveling standards for men and women for certain roles, saying in the hearing that the standards “need to be the same, and they need to be high.” The Army lowered its fitness test standards for women and older members in 2022 after a study found that young men were passing the six-event fitness test at a significantly higher rate than women and older soldiers.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

Wallace White

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

EXCLUSIVE: Emails, Phone Logs Reveal How Botched Pete Hegseth West Point Story Imploded

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After a West Point spokesperson falsely claimed that Pete Hegseth had not even applied to the institution, much less been accepted, journalism outfit ProPublica reached out to Hegseth’s lawyer, asserting that the Secretary of Defense nominee had lied and gave him a one hour deadline to respond.

Hegseth posted on Wednesday morning a photo of his acceptance to West Point and said ProPublica was planning on posting “a knowingly false report” that he was not accepted to the school in 1999. ProPublica editor Jesse Eisinger then responded with a Twitter thread, explaining that the outlet had done “real journalism” and determined something they heard was not true and that they would not be posting their story. Eisinger wrote that journalists must give the subject of a story a “fair chance to respond to all of the salient facts in the story.”

However, emails and apparent phone transcripts obtained by the Caller reveal that ProPublica themselves did not do that in pursuit of the Hegseth story.

Justin Elliott, a reporter for ProPublica, reached out to Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, on Tuesday about the story. Elliot told Parlatore he had an “urgent request” for comment and gave him just one hour to respond, an email obtained by the Caller shows. 

“I’m reaching out with an urgent request for comment for your client Pete Hegseth. We’re moving quickly so please let me know if you or he would like to comment as soon as possible. Our deadline is in one hour,” the email reads.

Emails between Timothy Parlatore and Justin Elliot obtained by the Daily Caller.

Elliott explains that a West Point spokesperson told ProPublica Hegseth never even applied to the school. He then asserts, seemingly based on West Point’s statement at face value, that Hegseth was lying.

“Why did Mr. Hegseth say he got in to West Point when that is not true?” Elliott wrote. “How can Mr. Hegseth be Secretary of Defense given that he has made false statements about getting in to the military’s most prestigious academy?” he continued. “Is there anything else we should know?”

Elliot’s assertion that Hegseth lied appears to have been based on a single email and phone call with West Point spokespeople. Eisenger tweeted that one West Point spokesman told them over email that Hegseth hadn’t even applied to the school, citing the Admissions Office. ProPublica then called West Point and a second spokesperson confirmed the falsehood, saying “Absolutely. 100%.”

The Daily Caller reached out to ProPublica to ask them a series of questions, including whether or not they would require more evidence than just two statements to accuse a cabinet secretary nominee of lying, and if they did any additional work to verify the story before accusing Hegseth of lying.

The Caller reached out to ProPublica nearly 6 hours before publication.

“Reporters do their job by asking tough questions to people in power, which is exactly what happened here. Responsible news organizations only publish what they can verify, which is why we didn’t publish a story once Mr. Hegseth provided documentation that corrected the statements from West Point,” a ProPublica spokesperson told the Caller.

The Caller followed up to ask if ProPublica did any additional work to verify their story beyond taking two Army public information officers at face value. The spokesperson said the first statement “speaks for itself” and they have no further comment.

The Caller also reached out to Elliot directly, but the email bounced back stating he was “out of office.”

After sending the email, Elliott called Parlatore to ask him about the story, according to a transcript of the call provided to the Daily Caller. The transcript shows that the reporter repeated that he was on a one hour deadline and was looking for a comment from him or Hegseth.

Once Elliott explained who he was, Parlatore continued to ask the reporter how he obtained the information, alleging that the school could potentially be breaking federal privacy laws, according to the transcript.

While Eisenger claimed on Twitter that Parlatore “didn’t deny the facts” during his phone call, the transcript obtained by the Caller indicates otherwise. In the transcript, Parlatore says West Point was providing ProPublica “false information,” and Elliot replies that he would use that denial on the record.

Hegseth’s team eventually provided ProPublica with his acceptance letter, which the outlet then took to West Point. At that point, the West Point public affairs office apologized and admitted that, per a new records check, Hegseth had applied and been accepted to the school.

The Daily Caller reached out to West Point to ask how the false information was relayed, if there was any further communication between the school and ProPublica, and if the officials who shared the false information were being disciplined. They did not answer the questions and refused to accept a phone call to discuss the story further.

Hegseth has been the target of a number of negative media stories since he was announced as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon. Hegseth has denied most of the claims, and after a rocky period, appears to have garnered the support of most Senate Republicans.

Just this week, dozens of veterans who served directly with Hegseth in the military signed a letter supporting his nomination.

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter.

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‘Speak Their Language’: Insiders Explain How Trump Can Use ‘NeoCon’ Cabinet Picks To Advance MAGA Agenda

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Some supporters of President-elect Donald Trump have been disappointed by his picks to fill out his new national security team, even lobbing accusations of them being “neocons” — but individuals familiar with the transition and the president-elect’s foreign policy record said those picks can be put to use accomplishing an America First agenda.

For Secretary of State, Trump tapped Sen. Marco Rubio, along with Rep. Michael Waltz for National Security Advisor and Rep. Elise Stefanik for United Nations Ambassador. The picks turned heads because they are viewed as having more “hawkish” beliefs. But national security insiders told the Daily Caller that the picks fall in line with the president’s agenda more than many would initially expect.

“If you take a look at what Trump is doing across his cabinet picks, he’s building the MAGA movement to go well beyond his Republican base, which is why he’s plugged in Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy. He’s making a bigger tent, and that is the stuff of legacy,” Morgan Murphy, former press secretary to the Secretary of Defense during the Trump administration and National Security Adviser to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, told the Caller.

Over the years, Rubio’s more hawkish positions have shifted to fall increasingly in line with the president-elect’s “America first” agenda. Rubio voted against a foreign aid package earlier this year that included Ukraine funding, but is hawkish on China and Latin America. Waltz, a special forces veteran, previously worked for Vice President Dick Cheney and has expressed aggressive stances on Iran.

Tapped for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth is the most unexpected of the president’s national security picks. Hegseth described himself as a “recovering neocon” in an earlier interview with the “Shawn Ryan Show” podcast, explaining that he was once a major supporter of the Iraq war but has since recognized the errors of his views.

The picks, particularly Rubio and Walz, have been attacked by some in the president-elect’s coalition.

“Yesterday was a bad day for those who endorse “America First” in our foreign policy,” former Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul tweeted. “With reported Trump appointments of neocons Elise Stefanik (UN Ambassador), Mike Waltz (National Security Advisor), and…Marco Rubio (Secretary of State), many who hoped that Trump 2.0 would be different than Trump 1.0 are feeling dejected and betrayed.”

“The wrong people are happy about Walz [sic],” tweeted New York Post journalist Miranda Devine.

Meanwhile, the likes of John Bolton, former Trump National Security Adviser-turned-critic, praised the picks as having “the correct approach to China.”

However, insiders who spokes with the Caller say the picks show that Trump understands what he needs to govern successfully this time around.

“Trump is now savvy about how Washington works, and likely knows he needs the neocons. They’re more entrenched in D.C. than America first. And there are just more of them. The only kind of foreign policy people that are harping on America first and have been consistently, there’s less than a dozen,” one former Trump national security official told the Caller.

“I think he may be looking at someone who speaks their language, who can help blend the two agendas,” the source added.

Sources explained Rubio was likely picked to be tough on China, something important to the president-elect’s agenda, and that it could’ve been a consolation prize for not getting the VP nod.

“I imagine the Secretary of State position was a consolation to Rubio. Everybody’s trying to strategize what the importance of [the picks] and what policies [Trump’s] putting in place. But I think the pick was more political than it was policy,” the former official told the Caller.

One insider told the Caller that while political consultants and the media speculate about what these picks could mean for Trump’s foreign policy, the source believes the president’s pick comes down to two things.

“Hegseth, Rubio, Waltz, Stefanik, what do they all have in common? They’re all friends and close to President Trump,” a former GOP senate staffer who worked on national security issues told the Caller.

“They know the foreign policy and national security space. The president knows that national security is the one thing you can’t get wrong. Look at Biden,” the source added.

They added that ideology likely wasn’t a primary factor in the selections.

“I think that ideology doesn’t really mean that much, whether it’s neocon or isolationist or Jacksonian or Hamiltonian. At the end of the day, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, are going to test President Trump in some way, shape or form, and it will be up to Trump and his national security team to decide how they want to respond to that test,” the former GOP senate staffer told the Caller.

When it comes to Rubio’s priorities, Cliff May, the president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Caller that he believes the Florida senator understands the threat being posed by China and Iran to the United States. He said he believes Hegseth was picked to be a “communicator.”

“He will need to sort of lead the effort in terms of messaging and communications and working with the President and with Congress to get the kind of military America needs in this century,” May told the Caller.

“I can see why he would not want somebody in charge who is a long time bureaucrat who says, ‘listen, this is all you can do. This is what you can do. I’m not fighting the bureaucracy. I’m going to speak for the bureaucracy.’ He doesn’t want another Lloyd Austin type,” May added.

Several sources predicted a “peace through strength” type of approach to national security, something Stefanik has promoted since being chosen as the U.N. Ambassador.

“Based on his nominees, I think Trump is building a FAFO foreign policy,” John Noonan, a senior adviser to POLARIS National Security, told the Caller. “We want peace. But if you F around with the United States, be ready to find out.”

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter

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ROOKE: Corporate Media Carries Out Anti-Christian Smear Campaign Against Pete Hegseth

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Shortly after President-elect Donald Trump nominated decorated veteran Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense (DOD), the corporate press attacked him because of his Christian tattoos.

On its face, it feels desperate and obvious that Hegseth would become persona non grata among the “people who know things” crowd. He’s handsome and in no way resembles an overfed sewer rat. He understands the failings of upper leadership and wants to make serious changes to improve military lethality by ending the woke malignant tumor growing inside the military, academies and defense agencies.

Still, the attacks against Hegseth seem more about his faith and less about his qualifications. “How dare the man tasked with leading the entire military in the protection of our country believe in God and profess those beliefs publicly? He must be some sort of Nazi!” (ROOKE: Don’t Let Calls For Unity Fool You. The GOP Is Still At War)

While it’s completely pathetic, we’ve seen the left’s anti-Christian demagoguery rise against believers for years. The radically atheistic left finds it inconceivable that Hegseth’s tattoos, the Jerusalem cross and the Latin phrase Deus Vult carries real meaning. Instead, he must be cosplaying as a Christian to hide his “White Supremacy” connections.

Deus Vult was a rallying cry during the First Crusade when European Christians fought against the Muslims for control over Jerusalem and to put an end to the brutal Muslim expansion. Today, it simply means “God wills it” and reminds Christians about God’s divine providence in our lives.

Similarly, the Jerusalem Cross, which has one large cross in the middle with four smaller crosses in each quadrant, became popular during the Crusades when Pope Urban II gave them the emblem to adorn their uniforms and banners.

There are several interpretations of the Jerusalem Cross. The five crosses could represent the Five Wounds Jesus Christ suffered during his crucifixion. Otheres say it is meant to be a sign of evangelism in which the large cross represents Christ, and the four smaller crosses are for the Gospel writers, St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John.

But if you read corporate media’s take, these symbols are a sign that Hegseth is a white supremacist. Hegseth told podcast host Shawn Ryan he was turned down from protecting Washington, D.C., during President Joe Biden’s inauguration because someone flagged his Christian tattoos. AP News released the email surrounding this incident, seemingly in an attempt to make Hegseth look like an extremist unfit for office. Still, all it did was further confirm that corporate news and the people leading our country have no issue committing anti-Christian bigotry.

“MAJ Hegseth has a tattoo of ‘Deus Vult’ on his inner arm (bicep area). The phrase ‘Deus Vult; is associated with Supremacist groups in which White-Supremacist use of #DeusVult and a return to medieval Catholicism, is to invoke the myth of a white Christian (i.e. Catholic) medieval past that wishes to ignore the actual demographics and theological state of Catholicism today, let alone the doctrinal practices of contemporary Catholicism,” Retired Master Sgt. DeRicko Gaither, who was serving as the D.C. Army National Guard’s physical security manager and on its anti-terrorism force protection team in January 2021, said.

Hegseth has two bronze stars for his heroism while deployed during the Global War on Terror. He started a veteran-focused organization to help veterans get the benefits they deserve, like better medical care. And yet, his tattoos are disqualifying. The left doesn’t care about men in drag or military officers dressing as puppies acting out sexual fetishes in uniform, but because Hegseth permanently displayed his allegiance to God on his body, that makes him an extremist.

They still don’t understand that their insistence to call everything outside of their woke worldview extremist bigotry is why voters overwhelmingly endorsed Trump and his vision for the country.

AUTHOR

Mary Rooke

Commentary and analysis writer.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Trio of Trump Picks Creates Headaches for GOP

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You know it’s a surreal time in Washington, D.C. when Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is the Democrat making the most sense. While his party has a collective “freakout” over Donald Trump’s potential hires, the Senate’s resident hoodie-wearer was asked if he’s as panicked as his colleagues about the president-elect’s Cabinet choices. “It’s still not even Thanksgiving yet,” he told CNN. “And if we’re having meltdowns, you know, every tweet or every appointment or all of those things, I mean, it’s going to be four years.”

And yes, while Trump probably did have fun “trolling” Democrats with some of these picks, as Fetterman said, they’re not the only ones with reservations. At least three of the president’s nominees are giving both parties heartburn heading into the holidays: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Matt Gaetz, and Pete Hegseth. Welcome to the job, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). You’ve just been handed a political nightmare.

Philip Wegmann, White House Correspondent for Real Clear Politics, said this all clears up one thing: “This is Donald Trump’s transition and no one else’s.” Wegmann, who joined Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Saturday’s “This Week on the Hill” thought — like many people — that the president-elect was “playing it safe” with his first string of announcements. “There was a bit of bipartisan consensus behind a pick like, say, Florida Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. That’s someone who is certainly well-qualified for that position. … And then came some of these more unconventional picks. Pete Hegseth for Department of Defense Secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, and then most recently, Florida Representative Matt Gaetz for Attorney General. What that tells you is that it is Donald Trump, fundamentally, who is making these decisions — and him alone. It’s not an advisor. It’s not any outside group. It’s him.”

The only decision he couldn’t control was Thune’s promotion. While Trump didn’t weigh in personally on the Republican leadership race in the Senate, plenty of his surrogates did. And in the end, the pressure they exerted didn’t sway the more insulated chamber. “The reason why I think that we should still put a pin in this and watch closely,” Wegmann said of Thune and his party, “is that there’s sort of a bubbling frustration among the right flank. … With how things are going … Republicans are of the opinion that Donald Trump has a mandate after winning the Electoral College and also the popular vote. And so, the question is, when someone like Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has shown that he is ready to move the ball down the field, are Senate Republicans also going to be team players here?”

While Senator Marco Rubio, Lee Zeldon, and others are “no-brainers” for the administration, as Perkins called them, there are other question marks, like South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R), who, apart from the hysteria her dead puppy created, lost plenty of fans when she caved on popular girls’ sports protections. As Wegmann acknowledged, Noem has had “a bit of a fall from grace certainly.” But, he predicted, “I’m not certain that we’re going to see Republicans abandon ship here.” Heading Homeland Security may seem like a big job, but “I think she is seen sort of as a key piece here who’s going to compliment Tom Homan, the border czar.”

Although Gaetz may lead the pack of controversial picks, equally triggering to Democrats (and many conservatives) is the nod for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head Health and Human Services (HHS). “You want to talk about a realignment?” Wegmann asked. “RFK Jr. represents so much of what is new from Donald Trump, because of Trump’s ability to reach out to Independent voters who are perhaps homeless among the two-party system,” he pointed out. “But let’s not forget RFK Jr. [is] a Catholic individual, but he also supports abortion rights. He’s very skeptical of pharmaceutical companies, but he’s also anti-Big Bank, anti-Big Business. He’s an environmentalist. This is one of these guys who sort of breaks the mold. And Democrats, I don’t think many of them are going to lend their support to RFK Jr. at HHS. I’m curious to see if there will be many Republican defections.”

If former Vice President Mike Pence got a vote, it would be an emphatic no. “The Trump-Pence administration was unapologetically pro-life for our four years in office. There are hundreds of decisions made at HHS every day that either lead our nation toward a respect for life or away from it, and HHS under our administration always stood for life,” Pence insisted on Friday. “I believe the nomination of RFK Jr. to serve as Secretary of HHS is an abrupt departure from the pro-life record of our administration and should be deeply concerning to millions of Pro-Life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades,” he declared.

Perkins, for his part, said he’d be “willing to sit down and talk” with the moderate but admitted he has “reservations.” “For me, the sanctity of human life and that moral fabric of our nation, that foundation, is absolutely critical. I’d have to have some assurances there for now. Put me in the skeptical column when it comes to RFK.”

The nomination that has had the most heads spinning is Gaetz’s, which took even his own party by surprise. As Axios tells it, the announcement was met with “audible gasps by House Republicans” in the conference meeting last week. “The reason why this is interesting,” Wegmann believes, “is that if you talk to Gaetz allies, they’ll say that in preparation for this contentious confirmation battle, he’s burning the ships like Cortez. … If you talk to folks who are a bit more cynical, the timing here is very curious. The House Ethics Committee was preparing to release a report concerning [the] activity of Mr. Gaetz and an allegedly underage girl,” he explained, “and by leaving Congress that effectively stymies that effort. … [T]hat was sort of the speculation that perhaps he was leaving early to avoid that accountability.”

Of course, as both men made clear, once a member leaves Congress, they are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee, so the investigation is — for all intents and purposes — dead. But there is the very real possibility that Democrats could leak it out as the nomination advances. What Wegmann has heard is that the report is a “grenade,” and it’s “only a matter of time before it explodes.” Democrats, after all, “have an incentive for this information to get out there, but they don’t want it to go off right now. They want to wait until it’s able to inflict maximum damage. Then there are some Republicans who would rather this information get out earlier, so the president-elect can either reexamine his choice or perhaps Gaetz can bow out.”

The “conference-splitter,” as Axios called him, got a cool reception from senators like Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and others who don’t seem anxious to give Trump a pass on this one. “This shows why the advice and consent process is so important,” Collins said, hinting that she won’t be so quick to let the president-elect bypass the traditional vetting with recess appointments. Murkowski stressed that Gaetz wasn’t even “a serious candidate.” “If I wanted to make a joke, maybe I would say now I’m waiting for [disgraced former Congressman] George Santos to be named.”

Of the three nominees who are most outside the box, Fox News’s Pete Hegseth is probably getting the most movement support. Several columnists are making the argument that the young veteran is plenty experienced, despite the Left’s shrieks to the contrary. The rumblings over his personal life have certainly given his detractors fodder, but others believe he is skilled enough — and determined enough — to overhaul the military and purge the Defense Department of four years of social experimentation.

Still, the thought “makes the Left go crazy,” Wegmann admitted. “But this is someone who was in the Armed Services for 20 years. He has won medals, and his nomination makes sense if you look at his book, if you look at the Shawn Ryan interview. This is someone who is absolutely on fire for reforming the Pentagon and going after sort of the woke excesses there. I think that’s why Donald Trump picked him. And Hegseth will be prepared for that confirmation hearing. You don’t get to be on TV every weekend if you’re not quick on your feet. I think he’s got a good shot.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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Trump Taps Fox News Host, Combat Vet For Secretary Of Defense

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President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening that Fox News host and veteran Pete Hegseth will be his pick for secretary of defense in his upcoming administration.

Since last week, Trump has been releasing names for his cabinet after winning both the Electoral College and popular vote. He announced his decision of the Fox & Friends host to lead the Pentagon in a Truth Social post on Tuesday evening.

“Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country. Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” the statement read. 

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“Pete has led two Veterans Advocacy organizations, leading the fight for our Warriors, and our great Veterans,” Trump said. “Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”

Hegseth previously served in the army, joining tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan. Following his service on the battlefield he was decorated with two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

Fox News Media released a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation following the announcement, congratulating Hegseth on his nomination and his work with the outlet.

“Pete Hegseth has been an exceptional host on FOX & Friends and FOX Nation and a best-selling author for FOX News Books for nearly a decade. His insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers and made the program the major success that it is today. We are extremely proud of his work at FOX News Media and wish him the best of luck in Washington,” the statement read.

The announcement of Hegseth joining Trump’s second administration comes shortly after the president-elect revealed former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe as his pick to lead the CIA. The former president additionally previously revealed Republican Florida Rep. Mike Waltz as White House national security advisor, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan as the new “border czar” and former Republican New York Rep. Lee Zeldin as the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency over the last week.

AUTHOR

Hailey Gomez

General assignment reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.