Insiders have revealed shocking new details about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s petty feud with a perceived rival that led to the ousting of a four-star general in the middle of President Donald Trump’s war on Iran.
Hegseth has clashed with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll for more than a year, dating back to when Hegseth was engulfed in a series of scandals and Driscoll’s name was being floated as a possible replacement.
But Hegseth, 45, cannot personally fire Driscoll, 40, who is a close friend of Vice President JD Vance, and has instead resorted to forcing out the Army secretary’s allies, including Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George.
Now, sources have revealed to the Wall Street Journal that Hegseth fired George, 61, in a one-minute phone call, without giving George or Driscoll any advance notice or explanation, over suspicions that the general leaked a damning report about the defense secretary to the media.
It all started earlier this year when Hegseth demanded that Driscoll remove two Black officers and two female officers from a list of military members chosen to be promoted to the rank o one-star general.
Most of the 29 other officers on the list for promotion were white men, leading senior military officials to question whether the officers in question were singled out for their race or gender, The New York Times reported in late March.
Since taking office, Hegseth has blocked or delayed promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines, NBC News reported earlier this month.
Driscoll repeatedly refused to strike the officers’ names from the list, citing the officers’ decades of exemplary service, the Times reported.
That refusal led to a heated conversation between Driscoll and Hegseth in February, sources told the Journal, while George also sought a meeting with Hegseth to discuss the blocked promotions but was given the cold shoulder, The Washington Post later reported.
Within days of The New York Times report coming out, Hegseth and his aides zeroed in on George as the suspected source of the story.
Hegseth called George on April 2 while Driscoll was on vacation with his family in North Carolina. In a terse conversation that lasted less than a minute, he demanded George’s resignation after 42 years of service, sources told the Journal.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
The firing was reminiscent of when Hegseth purged three of his top aides last year over suspicions they had leaked information to the press. The aides denied wrongdoing, and no charges were ever filed against them.
Driscoll told lawmakers during a hearing last week that after George’s firing, he and his family drove straight from North Carolina to the general’s house, where the whole family “gave him a hug.”
“I, too, love Gen. George,” Driscoll said, calling him “an amazing, transformational leader.”
The Army secretary had been enthusiastic about an effort that George launched during the Biden administration to experiment with and adopt drones and other emergency technology, according to the Post.
Driscoll’s public disagreement combined with the decision to dismiss a highly respected general during a war has triggered criticism among some Pentagon and White House insiders that Hegseth is making decisions based on personal vendettas at a time of unprecedented global military commitments, according to the Journal.
The former Fox News weekend host had already come under fire for the Signalgate scandal, accusations of war crimes, and quickly reversing the suspension of the crew of two Army helicopters who performed a fly-by close to MAGA rocker Kid Rock’s house in what was widely seen as an embarrassment for the military.
Last fall, Trump sidelined Hegseth and sent Driscoll to Kyiv to play a leading role in talks to end the war in Ukraine.
Hegseth told associates he wanted the White House to take Driscoll off the negotiations, several people told the Journal, and he was pulled from the high-profile assignment. Many of his press engagements were then quashed.
Hegseth’s spokesperson Sean Parnell previously told the Daily Beast in a statement that the defense secretary “maintains excellent working relationships with the secretaries of every military service branch, including Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.”
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly also praised both men in a statement, saying, “President Trump has effectively restored a focus on readiness and lethality across our military with the help of leaders like Secretary Hegseth and Secretary Driscoll.”
