Trump’s Rage Over Embarrassing Leaks Triggers White House Blame Game
A furious reaction from President Donald Trump to embarrassing Pentagon leaks has triggered a blame game inside the White House.
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The finger-pointing comes after bombshell reports earlier this week that claimed the U.S. is running out of weapons at a dangerous pace. Trump is said to have grilled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the reports at Camp David over the weekend, where the former Fox & Friends host promptly blamed his No. 2, Andrew Feinberg.
The White House then quickly sought to rubbish that claim with a merry band of talking heads rolling out statements, led by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who declared that they were “100 percent false.”
Even still, Trump reacted in a fury on Truth Social, saying that the “leakers” are “being hunted down” and that they will be thrown in jail if he gets his way.
Apparently this anger is reflected behind the scenes, too. As Trump tries to figure out where the leaks have come from, a senior White House official theorized that a cabal of anti-war officials within the administration could be guilty, according to CNN.
Their goal, the official told the network, is to push Trump to pull the U.S. out of the war.
It was reported that Trump confronted Hegseth about the dwindling stocks on Friday at Camp David in Maryland. The Washington Post cited sources who said that Trump, 80, was under the impression that the weapon inventory, already depleted by U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia and other confrontations, had been “fixed.”
Trump felt that he had been misled, the Post reported. However, officials told CNN that he does not ultimately blame Hegseth, but the informants.
The whole sorry picture contradicts Trump’s war bluster. The commander-in-chief said on Monday that he had ordered, then called off, “the biggest attack since World War II” on Iran.
After the Post published its story on Thursday, Trump loaded up Truth Social to assure the nation that he has complete confidence in Hegseth, who likes to call himself the “Secretary of War.”
“I am extremely happy with the job that Pete Hegseth is doing. Everything has been extraordinary,” Trump said, citing Hegseth’s role in capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, his rampage against diversity, equity and inclusion in the Armed Forces and his role in the ongoing war in Iran, which has claimed the lives of thousands of people, including 18 American servicemembers.
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He then attacked the Post for its reporting, saying that it could even constitute “treason.”
“This rumor was started by The Washington ComPost, one of the worst Media Outlets in the business, despite our telling them their story is completely FALSE. In actuality, I really believe their fake ‘reporting’ is treasonous!” he said.
The finger-pointing saga was preceded by a series of reports earlier this week, before the Post story went live. On Wednesday, CNN published an article that cited sources who said the Pentagon’s munitions stockpile is “dangerously low.”
That followed a similar Reuters report on Tuesday, which stated that the U.S. Army has used up much of its highly accurate long-range missiles during Trump’s war in Iran.
The reports forced the White House on the defensive. It released a statement on Tuesday, saying that the U.S. has “far more munitions than anyone in the world” and “far more than we need.” The spokesperson added that the Pentagon was working with defense companies to procure even more weapons. On Wednesday, both the Pentagon and the White House released statements suggesting that Trump has a surplus of weaponry at his disposal.
But behind the scenes, things are less calm, according to reports. Trump was reportedly red-faced at the earlier reports, thinking that they weakened his hand when it comes to negotiating with Iran.
“The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down. Long term jail sentences will be sought!” he fumed on Truth Social on Thursday. CNN cited officials who said that the Justice Department has been charged with unearthing the informants.
The post about his reported clash with Hegseth came soon after.
Despite Trump’s claims that he backs Hegseth, munition anxiety reared its head early in the military operation in Iran, launched on Feb. 28. Regional partners in the Middle East expressed concern about the fading stocks of interceptor systems.
“It’s not panic yet, but the sooner they get here the better,” a source in the region told CNN, after they made a request to the Trump administration for more interceptors.
The U.S. quickly burned through stocks in early blitzes on Iran, with Trump, at least publicly, assuring that the conflict would only last “four or five weeks.” Five months on, and the U.S. looks no closer to leaving the region.
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The White House has been approached for comment.



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