Pete Hegseth is fighting for his job. And he’s using your money to do it. The Pentagon confirmed that Defense Department staff recorded and produced Hegseth’s self-promoting video attacking Democrats, a Republican congressman and everyone else calling for him to go. Government watchdogs say it probably violated federal law.
Pentagon Staff Made It, On Your Dime
The video dropped Thursday, two days after Republicans got crushed in the midterms. Hegseth stands outside the Pentagon and goes after Joe Biden and the members of Congress, from both parties, who want him resigned or fired. He defends the deeply unpopular Iran war and heaps praise on Donald Trump.
Hegseth’s office admitted Friday that the video was recorded and produced by Defense Department staff. It refused to answer questions about what it cost, or whether anyone checked it against federal legal and ethics rules.
He did not hold back. “They attack me, they attack us, because we are effective,” Hegseth told the camera. Translation: the Republican defense secretary turned the Pentagon’s media shop into his personal campaign studio.
Watchdogs: This Probably Broke the Law
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says the video hits three laws at once. CREW president Donald Sherman called the pro-Trump remarks a clear violation of the ban on spending federal money on propaganda. He said the repeated pitches for funding bills break the anti-lobbying statute, and the attacks on Democrats are a potential Hatch Act violation.
Common Cause agreed. Its Abigail Bellows said using social media to go after Democrats is a violation of the law, whether or not Hegseth is “re-auditioning” for his job.
The Hatch Act bars federal employees, Cabinet secretaries included, from activity aimed at the success or failure of a political party while on duty or inside a federal building. Hegseth filmed it at the Pentagon. With Pentagon staff.
Even Republicans Are Balking
This isn’t just Democrats complaining. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who cast a deciding vote to confirm Hegseth, had a blunt warning: “Cabinet secretaries shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer dollars on campaign-style videos.”
Tillis pointed to Kristi Noem, Trump’s former homeland security secretary, who ran a $200 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign shortly before Trump replaced her. Even Republican Rep. James Comer, one of Trump’s fiercest defenders, declined to back Hegseth on Friday and said lawmakers have a lot of questions about him.
House Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith summed it up: “I think there are enough Republicans who want him gone.”
A Pattern of Partisan Propaganda
This is not the first time. In May, the Pentagon posted a video on Hegseth’s official X account showing a comic-book Biden smashing an ice cream cone into his own face while Hegseth trashed his record on the military.
And it runs straight to the top. Trump himself was sued before Election Day for diverting more than $20 million in taxpayer money into an ad campaign bragging about his own accomplishments. After Thursday’s video, Pentagon political appointees pushed out matching “Stand. Fight. Defend the Republic.” graphics, and the official White House account posted its own video praising Hegseth.
Who Will Enforce It? Nobody.
Here’s the catch. Hatch Act cases go to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Trump fired that independent agency’s head early in his second term. Watchdog groups say enforcement is unlikely.
Joe Spielberger of the Project on Government Oversight added that the special counsel usually avoids going after Cabinet-level officials at all. So Republicans gutted the referee, and now the players write their own rules.
The Impeachment Clock Is Ticking
Hegseth called Republican Rep. Thomas Massie “disgruntled” and his impeachment articles a “sham.” Massie, who has opposed the Iran war, says he will reintroduce them Monday or Tuesday and believes support has grown since the election.
Under House rules, the chamber must take up the articles within two days. Fox News’ Chad Pergram reports that the odds of the House actually impeaching Hegseth are increasingly high, as more Republicans look to distance themselves from Trump and the war that cost them Congress.
The Pentagon’s side: spokesman Sean Parnell said Hegseth is “100% committed” to leading the department through Trump’s term, dismissing the push as a sham witch hunt from Democrats. Trump says Hegseth is doing a great job. No investigation has been opened and no finding has been made on the video.
The Bottom Line
Republicans lost Congress over an unpopular war. Instead of answering for it, the Republican defense secretary drafted Pentagon staff, on the public payroll, to film a campaign ad for himself. Then he refused to say what it cost. That’s not defending the republic. That’s billing it.
Sources: The Washington Post (Tara Copp, with Noah Robertson), CBC News, Quartz, The Daily Signal (Virginia Grace McKinnon), Fox News (Chad Pergram), Conservative Daily News citing the Associated Press.
Well of course he did. Isn’t that what taxpayer money is for? Tyrant Trump obviously thinks he can do whatever he wants with taxpayer money. Boy, are they in for a surprise? Just wait until they hear the clank of their jail cell doors closing them in their cells. For some odd reason, they think they are immune to consequences. They couldn’t be more wrong!