The media’s latest attempt to gin up a scandal surrounding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth might be the dumbest yet.
According to a CBS News report Wednesday, Hegseth ordered that a room near the Pentagon press briefing room be modified and “renovated” to serve as a makeup studio for officials appearing on television. The price tag for the project, initially estimated to cost more than $40,000 — which is so high, it almost has to be a fake number — clocked in at measly several thousand dollars, the outlet reported. (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)
However, Hegseth and a DOD spokesperson immediately poured cold water on the story, with the defense secretary calling it “totally fake.”
“Changes and upgrades to the Pentagon Briefing Room are nothing new and routinely happen during changes in an administration,” the spokesperson told CBS News.
“For this upgrade we were deliberately conservative and opted for several less expensive, on-hand material solutions,” they added.
1) Totally fake story. No “orders” and no “makeup” — but whatever.
2) We should have installed tampon machines in every men’s bathroom at DoD instead — the leftist “news” media would have loved that. https://t.co/7LypyVObXJ
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) April 23, 2025
The Pentagon “renovated” the green room earlier in the year. By renovation, CBS News means adding a new chair and a large mirror with makeup lighting, which is not really a renovation at all. In fact, it’s a far cry from a renovation, more like a minor touch-up, if anything.
Nonetheless, CBS News’ story is yet another example of anonymous DOD staffers leaking to liberal corporate media to make their boss look bad.
On Sunday, Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell ripped a New York Times report that Hegseth shared sensitive information in another Signal group chat. Sources “familiar” told the outlet the defense secretary messaged his wife, brother, and personal lawyer in a private chat regarding the Houthi airstrikes in March.
“Another day, another old story — back from the dead,” Parnell said. “The Trump-hating media continues to be obsessed with destroying anyone committed to President Trump’s agenda. This time, the [NYT] — and all other Fake News that repeat their garbage — are enthusiastically taking the grievances of disgruntled former employees as the sole sources for their article. They relied only on the words of people who were fired this week and appear to have a motive to sabotage the Secretary and the President’s agenda.”
Ahead of The New York Times’ story publication, the Pentagon put senior adviser Dan Caldwell, Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, and Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg’s Chief of Staff Colin Carroll on administrative leave over an investigation into intelligence leaks.
“What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax,” Hegseth told reporters on Monday. “This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations.”
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