President Donald Trump holds a Cabinet meeting, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in the Cabinet Room. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
Former and current White House insiders are not holding back on the Cabinet official they see as a "dead man walking," according to a recent report from The Intercept, claiming that the hammer is going to drop on them one way or another.
In the wake of the GOP's brutal implosion in the midterms this week, much of the blame is already being placed on the Iran war, increasing the likelihood that one of its main leaders, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, will suffer major consequences. GOP Rep. Thomas Massie has already announced his intention to continue bringing articles of impeachment against Hegseth once Congress returns from recess, with other reports suggesting that he might be looking for other ways out of the Cabinet to avoid accountability.
However things shake out for him, various insider sources who spoke to The Intercept this week believe that Hegseth is doomed no matter what and deserves the biggest punishment possible. The outlet said that it had spoken with "six current and former defense officials as well as additional sources on Capitol Hill, most on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely."
"By Wednesday evening, sentiment within the Pentagon suggested that Hegseth’s days are numbered, with names of potential replacements already being bandied about," the report explained.
One anonymous Pentagon official called the self-styled "War Secretary" a "Dead man walking," with another source, credited as a "former defense official," agreeing.
"They pinned the failure in Iran on him. Now it’s only a matter of time," they told The Intercept.
One of the non-anonymous sources the outlet spoke with was Wes J. Bryant, "until last year a senior targeting adviser and policy analyst at the Pentagon," who pulled no punches while sizing up Hegseth's predicament. Bryant was pushed out of the Defense Department by Hegseth in response to his efforts to expose his former boss's attempts to weaken protections for civilians.
"He is conducting state terrorism," the former official said. "He is 100 percent a war criminal. He needs to be prosecuted."
An anonymous GOP staffer in D.C. told the outlet that it was looking increasingly likely that Hegseth "could easily become the president’s fall guy," with another senior staffer adding that he “might be purged, himself, to avoid additional embarrassment."
“If Hegseth does stay and he survives this moment, Oversight is going to come crashing down on his head,” the senior staffer said. “Will Hegseth continue to obstruct? Yes. But wait until the subpoenas start.”