PENTAGON PIGGY BANK

Pentagon Pete Slammed for Taxpayer-Funded Self-Promos

Hegseth’s latest bid to win Trump’s favor has landed him in hot water over allegations that he illegally used taxpayer money.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing fresh backlash for using taxpayer dollars to make a self-promotional video while he fights to keep his job.

Amid mounting reports that President Donald Trump is considering giving Hegseth the boot, the 46-year-old former Fox News host released a slickly produced 5-minute video appeal packed with self-praise and fawning tributes to his boss.

Hegseth’s office has confirmed that Defense Department staff recorded and produced the video, according to The Washington Post, but wouldn’t answer questions about its price tag or whether it met the government’s legal and ethical standards.

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Government watchdogs say the video—in which Hegseth attacks Democrats, obsesses over culture-war grievances, defends the war with Iran, and demands Republicans pass a massive Pentagon budget proposal—clearly violates federal law.

“The pro-Trump and self-laudatory remarks in the video are clear violations of the ban on using federal funds for propaganda,” Donald K. Sherman, president of the nonpartisan government accountability organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told the Post.

He added, “The specific and repeated mentions of funding bills violates the anti-lobbying statute, and the blatant effort to oppose the Democrats’ agenda for accountability is a potential violation of the Hatch Act.”

Federal law prohibits the use of federal funds for “publicity or propaganda purposes,” including communications that are “purely partisan” and “designed to aid a political party or candidates.” While governments can fund advertising, it must be used to promote issues such as public health awareness or military recruitment, and the advertising must remain non-partisan.

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees like Hegseth from engaging in “activity directed at the success or failure of a political party, [or] candidate for partisan political office” while on duty or inside any federal room or building, according to the Post.

The law further prohibits political appointees and their civilian staff from using social media to advocate for or against a political party.

Using social media “to criticize Democrats, whether it’s because he’s re-auditioning for his job or any other reason,” is a violation of the law, said Abigail Bellows, a senior policy director for anti-corruption at the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause.

When reached for comment, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told the Daily Beast, “Partisan hacks and lamestream media propagandists are coping and seething because Secretary Hegseth won’t back down—he will continue to stand and fight for our Republic and our service members.”

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel would be responsible for investigating and pursuing suspected Hatch Act violations—an unlikely prospect after Trump ousted the independent agency’s chief early in his second term.

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The video was slammed Friday by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who warned that Hegseth was repeating the mistake that cost former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem her job.

“@PeteHegseth, cabinet secretaries shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer dollars on campaign style videos. Kristi Noem learned that the hard way,” the 66-year-old North Carolina senator, who is retiring in January, wrote in an X post.

Meanwhile, Hegseth’s video echoes Trump’s own pre-Election Day ad campaign, for which the president diverted more than $20 million in taxpayer funds to tout his accomplishments. A judge eventually pulled the plug on the ads after a lawsuit challenged their use of public money.

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