Recent news reports have given Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plenty of reason to sweat under the bright lights, but he still doesn’t want people to know where he fixes his makeup.
The former Fox News host turned head of the Department of Defense raged over a CBS News report that he installed a makeup studio just outside of the Pentagon’s press briefing room. The outlet shared that Hegseth had spent “several thousand dollars” to add a new chair and mirror with makeup lighting in the green room.
“Totally fake story,” Hegseth wrote on X. “No ‘orders’ and no ‘makeup’ — but whatever.”
Hegseth went on to suggest that the “leftist ‘news’ media” would rather see him install “tampon machines in every men’s bathroom at DoD.”
A Pentagon spokesperson was more measured in its response, saying there was nothing novel about changes to Pentagon decor in a statement to CBS News.
“Changes and upgrades to the Pentagon Briefing Room are nothing new and routinely happen during changes in an administration,” they shared.
Hegseth is understandably a little testy, as reports swirl suggesting he’s on the outs in the Trump administration. The defense secretary’s repeated use of third-party encryption apps to share sensitive information in defiance of DoD policy has cast an unflattering spotlight on his short tenure.
His term leading the Department of Defense has been rife with scandals and high-profile departures, as anonymous insiders have reported chaos within the largest executive department.
“There is a complete meltdown in the building, and this is really reflecting on the secretary’s leadership,” a senior official told Politico. “Pete Hegseth has surrounded himself with some people who don’t have his interests at heart.”
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