{"id":216784,"date":"2026-09-06T00:49:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T00:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/216784\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T00:49:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T00:49:07","slug":"pete-hegseth-lashes-out-over-completely-false-report-candidates-are-being-eyed-to-replace-yet-another-pentagon-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/216784\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth Lashes Out Over \u2018COMPLETELY False\u2019 Report Candidates Are Being Eyed To Replace Yet Another Pentagon Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth lashed out over a media report suggesting the White House is reviewing candidates to replace the deputy secretary of the Pentagon \u2014 calling it &#8220;COMPLETELY false.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hegseth took to X on Saturday to declare that the Department of Defense has &#8220;never had a better&#8221; deputy secretary than Steve Feinberg, in response to an exclusive report from Reuters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The [Department of Defense] has never had a better Deputy Secretary than Steve Feinberg,&#8221; Hegseth wrote. &#8220;Stories like these are COMPLETELY false. Outside forces (i.e. companies he is pressing for results!) want Steve gone because he is so effective in advancing [President Donald Trump&#8217;s] agenda. His leadership is HISTORIC.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Reuters cited three people familiar with discussions when they <a data-ylk=\"slk:reported;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/white-house-reviews-candidates-replace-hegseth-deputy-feinberg-sources-say-2026-09-05\/?taid=6a9b8811ae1ff00001c20888&amp;utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&amp;utm_medium=trueAnthem&amp;utm_source=twitter\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a> on Friday that the White House has interviewed potential replacements for Feinberg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">If Feinberg were replaced, he would be just the latest in what has been described as a <a data-ylk=\"slk:purge;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/trump-reportedly-expressed-concern-over-hegseths-army-purge-in-private-meeting\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">purge<\/a> at the Pentagon under Hegseth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned from his position this week after reported <a data-ylk=\"slk:tensions with Hegseth;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/new-shock-report-says-army-secretary-to-step-down-amid-tension-with-pete-hegseth\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">tensions with Hegseth<\/a>. Others like Army Chief of Staff Randy George, former head of US Army Europe and Africa Gen. Christopher Donahue, and former commander of US Army Transformation and Training Command Gen. David Hodne have also seen themselves ousted from their positions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Politico <a data-ylk=\"slk:dropped a report;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/hegseths-culture-war-focus-stalling-army-progress-amid-staff-purge-officials-say-hes-talking-about-muscles-dudes-in-dresses\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">dropped a report<\/a> this week in which sources inside the Pentagon expressed concerns about Hegseth&#8217;s focus on social and cultural issues and the &#8220;turbulence&#8221; high turnover in leadership is causing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Driscoll kept trying to change how quickly the Army could learn, experiment, and buy. Hegseth kept returning to what soldiers look like, how they behave, and who gets to lead them,&#8221; one defense official said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Sean Parnell, the assistant to the Secretary of Defense for public affairs, <a data-ylk=\"slk:pushed back;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/hegseths-culture-war-focus-stalling-army-progress-amid-staff-purge-officials-say-hes-talking-about-muscles-dudes-in-dresses\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">pushed back<\/a> on those claims of &#8220;turbulence,&#8221; calling Hegseth a &#8220;transformative leader&#8221; who is slashing bureaucracy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The post <a data-ylk=\"slk:Pete Hegseth Lashes Out Over &#039;COMPLETELY False&#039; Report Candidates Are Being Eyed To Replace Yet Another Pentagon Leader;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/pete-hegseth-lashes-out-over-completely-false-report-candidates-are-being-eyes-to-replace-yet-another-pentagon-leader\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Pete Hegseth Lashes Out Over &#8216;COMPLETELY False&#8217; Report Candidates Are Being Eyed To Replace Yet Another Pentagon Leader<\/a> first appeared on <a data-ylk=\"slk:Mediaite;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Mediaite<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth lashed out over a media report suggesting the White House is reviewing candidates&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[120],"tags":[399,96551,174,184,18,96518,15369],"class_list":["post-216784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pete-hegseth","tag-defense","tag-feinberg","tag-hegseth","tag-pentagon","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-steve","tag-steve-feinberg"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/117221350932017534","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}