{"id":40640,"date":"2026-04-24T01:39:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T01:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/40640\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T01:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T01:39:27","slug":"pete-hegseth-butted-heads-with-navy-secretary-over-shipbuilding-and-push-to-ignore-judges-orders-before-firing-reports-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/40640\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth \u2018butted heads\u2019 with Navy secretary over shipbuilding and push to ignore judge\u2019s orders before firing: reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Phelan repeatedly clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth before he was fired as Navy secretary<\/a> \u2014 including over whether to comply with a federal judge\u2019s order, according to a new report.<\/p>\n

Hegseth abruptly dismissed Phelan, a former financier and Trump donor, on Wednesday, marking the second major leadership shake-up<\/a> at the Pentagon during the Iran war.<\/a><\/p>\n

“Hegseth and Phelan reportedly butted heads when Phelan refused to ignore a recent federal judge\u2019s ruling that said punishing Senator Mark Kelly<\/a> for making a video in which he reminded military officers of their constitutional duty to not to not follow illegal orders would violate his First Amendment rights,\u201d Jennifer Griffin, Fox News\u2019 Pentagon correspondent, reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHegseth wanted Kelly, a retired Navy captain and former astronaut, brought back onto active duty and stripped of his rank,\u201d Griffin said. In February, the defense secretary appealed the judge\u2019s ruling<\/a> blocking his efforts to reprimand Kelly, an Arizona Democrat.<\/p>\n

Phelan also reportedly sparred with Hegseth over how to reboot the Navy\u2019s lackluster shipbuilding program<\/a> \u2014 amid a host of other issues that strained their relationship.<\/p>\n

\"Defense<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ‘butted heads’ with Navy Secretary John Phelan \u2014 including over shipbuilding and ignoring a federal judge’s orders \u2014 before he was fired, according to a new report (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

On Thursday, President Donald Trump described Phelan as \u201ca long time friend\u201d who he hoped would rejoin the administration \u201csometime in the future.\u201d Later, he told reporters that Phelan \u201chad some conflict, not necessarily with Pete.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a hard charger, and he had some conflicts with some other people, mostly as to building and buying new ships,\u201d the president said, while seated behind the Resolute Desk.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, Phelan released a statement saying that leading the Navy \u201chas been the honor of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Leadership at this level is not without its challenges,\u201d he said, according to Axios. \u201cDecision-making can be slowed by caution, competing equities, and internal friction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan\u2019s 13-month tenure at the Navy came to an end, seemingly out of the blue, on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018President<\/p>\n

\u2018President Trump and Secretary Hegseth agreed new leadership at the Navy is needed,\u2019 a senior administration official said (Getty)<\/p>\n

A Pentagon spokesperson released a cryptic statement saying that Phelan, the 79th Navy secretary, would be departing the administration \u201ceffective immediately,\u201d without providing any explanation.<\/p>\n

A few hours later, a senior administration official told The Independent that Phelan had been fired.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump and Secretary Hegseth agreed new leadership at the Navy is needed,\u201d the official said. \u201cSecretary Hegseth informed John Phelan of this news prior to it being made public.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Independent has contacted the Pentagon for comment.<\/p>\n

Beyond his clashes with Hegseth over judicial orders, the former Navy chief also stirred controversy due to his tight-knit friendship with the president.<\/p>\n

The Harvard Business School graduate and founder of a Palm Beach-based investment firm reportedly helped raise millions for the president\u2019s re-election campaign. The president tapped Phelan, who did not serve in the military, to lead the Navy shortly after his re-election.<\/p>\n

Since then, the pair have kept in close contact, according to The Wall Street Journal. They regularly chatted at Mar-a-Lago, and Phelan would text the president late at night about shipbuilding.<\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/p>\n

Senior Pentagon officials became irritated when Phelan pitched his idea for new battleships directly to the president, bypassing Hegseth, according to The Wall Street Journal (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Senior Pentagon officials grew particularly annoyed last year when Phelan took his proposal for a new battleship directly to the president, leaving Hegseth out of the loop, sources told the outlet.<\/p>\n

Phelan\u2019s plans for a new class of battleships also may have contributed to his ouster, The New York Times reported.<\/p>\n

Trump had repeatedly expressed his desire to manufacture a new fleet of warships \u2014 and Phelan had struggled to deliver on the president\u2019s aggressive and \u201cnearly impossible\u201d schedule, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

His firing comes as the U.S. Navy is enacting a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> amid the ongoing war with Iran, which has engulfed the Middle East in violence and led to a surge in global fuel prices. Multiple recent polls show most Americans are opposed to the conflict.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the war, on April 2, Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George. A source familiar with the matter told CBS News that the defense secretary wanted someone in the role who would implement his and Trump\u2019s \u201cvision for the Army.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since taking the helm of the Pentagon 15 months ago, Hegseth has dismissed roughly 34 military officers, some of whom were four star generals and admirals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Phelan repeatedly clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth before he was fired as Navy secretary \u2014 including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[6258,5266,26353,25291,18109,26352,18,4513,7063,7208,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-40640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pete-hegseth","8":"tag-defense-secretary","9":"tag-federal-judge","10":"tag-jennifer-griffin","11":"tag-john-phelan","12":"tag-mark-kelly","13":"tag-navy-secretary","14":"tag-pete-hegseth","15":"tag-secretary-hegseth","16":"tag-shipbuilding","17":"tag-the-pentagon","18":"tag-trump"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116457135381440320","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40640","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=40640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}