Trump has Hegseth's back. Some of Hegseth's allies worry it won't last.
His advisers looked around confused. Pete, who?
'Pete Hegseth,' Trump said, referring to the Fox News star he'd admired over the years. 'I want Pete.'
Trump has long admired the energy of the handsome, Princeton-educated Hegseth. During the GOP presidential primaries, when he felt 'Fox and Friends' wasn't giving him enough positive coverage, Hegseth's fawning commentary on the weekend version of 'Fox & Friends' buoyed his mood.
A plus: The veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan emanates the 'warrior ethos' masculinity that Trump admires. The president saw him as the perfect messenger for an administration salivating to take a chainsaw to what MAGA viewed as the woke sensibilities of the armed forces.
That desire ultimately won out even after Hegseth initially failed to disclose to the transition team that he'd paid a woman who alleged he sexually assaulted her as part of a settlement. (He has denied that accusation and was never charged.) And it stayed with Trump throughout the spring when Signalgate erupted. Notably, it was Michael Waltz who took the fall for adding a journalist to the chain.
Trump, meanwhile, stood with Hegseth — even as many in the media speculated he was about to get canned.
'Keep fighting — I love what you're doing,' Trump told Hegseth during one meeting amid the controversy, a second White House official recounted. 'Whatever you need. You're a killer.'
At the time, I asked one White House official why the administration stood by Hegseth despite the chaos. The answer was simple: Team Trump had put so much political capital in getting him confirmed that it would take a whole lot more dirt to send him packing. The reality is Trump doesn't give a fig about how Hegseth treats his staff, or whether there's an investigation into his use of Signal and classified documents, said one of the White House officials and three outside allies.
'He doesn't care about the palace intrigue stuff — he just doesn't,' said one top ally. 'It's not drama that impacts him or his agenda.'
Nowadays, Trump's inner circle gives Hegseth props for the successful execution of Operation Midnight Hammer, the covert U.S. bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities and the military's joint-taskforce at the border. They credit him for historic recruitment and boosted morale with the troops who adore him. And they love that he's leading on Trump's desire to build a Golden Dome missile defense system to protect the U.S.
Still, there's a dirty little secret that folks in the White House won't voice but their allies on the outside admit: No matter the drama, White House officials have to find a way to work with him because Trump has made clear that Hegseth is not going anywhere.
'The boss loves him — so it's like, 'We'll make it work,'' said one Trump ally close with the inner circle who has been aghast at the headlines.
'This is bullshit'
The endless ability to forgive on Hegseth's behalf is particularly acute in the situation regarding the treatment of the fired employees, some who had known Hegseth for more than a decade and worked with him at a previous employer. Hegseth not only publicly harangued them as leakers but mused that his ex-buddies could be prosecuted by the Justice Department.
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