An angry phone call from President Donald Trump sent the Defense Department’s top brass into a tailspin, sources have told NBC News.
Four sources familiar with the matter told the outlet that the 80-year-old’s furious call triggered an emergency gathering after Trump realized America’s weapons stockpiles were running dangerously low.
Fresh off a Camp David retreat with advisers on the Iran war, Trump dialed up Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg to demand answers on how the Pentagon planned to fix the shortage—and even suggested Feinberg should be fired, according to two people in the know.
That explosive phone call sent Feinberg scrambling into what sources called “a crisis meeting” with top military and acquisition officials. Feinberg has been spearheading the push to rebuild depleted stockpiles since taking his post last March—a shortage initially triggered by aid to Ukraine, then severely exacerbated by strikes on Houthis in Yemen, defense during last year’s 12-day war, and ongoing hostilities with Iran since February.
“No one has taken this more seriously—even before he got into office—than Feinberg,” a source close to the administration insisted.
The panicked session came right after Trump confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Camp David over the missing munitions.
Hegseth has publicly maintained as recently as June that supplies are fully stocked, repeatedly brushing off reports of a squeeze. But with Trump mulling whether to relaunch major combat operations against Iran, anxiety is rapidly climbing across Capitol Hill and inside the White House over what’s actually left in the arsenal.
Team Trump immediately rushed to deny the chaos. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the report “100% fake news,” while Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell slammed it as a total fabrication.
“From its characterization of Secretary Hegseth’s relationship with Deputy Secretary Feinberg to its claims about conversations, phone calls, internal deliberations, and every other central allegation, this story is a complete fabrication built on anonymous sources who either have no idea what they’re talking about or are deliberately misleading reporters,” Parnell said, insisting the duo are working “side by side.”
The Pentagon added further in a statement given to the Daily Beast, “NBC should spend less time manufacturing palace intrigue and more time reporting the facts.”
But hours later, Trump blew up his own spokespeople’s cover story. In an unhinged 12:34 a.m. Truth Social rant, the president inadvertently confirmed the clash over depleted stockpiles while raging against “treasonous” leakers.
“The United States has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types,” Trump wrote, adding that “defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history.” He then vowed: “The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down.”
Though Trump claimed Sunday he pulled back on a major military strike against Iran to leave room for diplomacy, Tehran denied any bilateral talks are happening, stating it’s only speaking with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Feinberg’s Friday night summit ended in a stalemate over how to boost production—including whether to bring in new defense vendors. While Trump invoked the Defense Production Act back in June, NBC News reports the Pentagon has been notoriously slow to actually sign the contracts.
The White House has been contacted for comment.
