Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth Accused of Feeding Trump False War Intelligence

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is lying to President Trump about how badly the war with Iran is going, according to multiple administration officials who spoke to The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.

While Hegseth has publicly portrayed the five-week conflict as a series of crushing victories bringing America to the brink of total triumph, Iran's downing of an F-15E fighter jet and an A-10 Warthog over the weekend told a different story. Now insiders say the 45-year-old defense secretary's misleading briefings are warping the 79-year-old president's understanding of a war he started.

"Pete is not speaking truth to the president," one administration official told the Post. "As a result, the president is out there repeating misleading information."

Highlight Reels and Half-Truths

According to U.S. officials familiar with the matter, Hegseth has been showing Trump short videos of American airstrikes on Iranian targets, creating the impression of overwhelming U.S. dominance. The Pentagon chief has particularly overstated progress in destroying Iran's missile and drone programs, multiple officials said.

After claiming the U.S. has "overwhelmingly destroyed" those programs, Hegseth told reporters on March 31 that Iranian missile and drone launches had dropped to their lowest 24-hour level since the war began. Administration officials say that was false. Lower 24-hour periods occurred on March 14, 15, and 22.

"Documents sent around internally contradict Hegseth's claims," one administration official said.

Unlike Hegseth, who has boasted about "complete control of Iranian skies," Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has not suggested U.S. jets can enter Iranian airspace without significant risk, the Post reports.

Trump Parrots the Pentagon Line

The problem is that Hegseth has Trump's ear, and the president has been repeating the defense secretary's inflated claims in public remarks.

"We've decimated them as a military. No Air Force, no Navy, very few rockets left," Trump said at his March 26 Cabinet meeting, with Hegseth seated beside him. "We blew up so many. Hard to manufacture them, same thing with drones."

A week before Iran shot down two U.S. fighter jets, Trump told investors at a summit: "We're just going after targets and again, they have no antiaircraft. So we're just floating over the top looking for whatever we want and we're hitting it."

After the F-15E was shot down on Monday, Trump called it "a lucky hit."

Pentagon Denies Everything

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell responded to the reporting with a blistering statement accusing the Post of "pushing a fake story of failure" and rooting against American troops.

"It's disgusting to see mainstream media outlets like the Washington Post root against our warfighters and promote a totally false narrative to give the public and our enemies the impression that the United States military is failing," Parnell said.

He claimed ballistic missile and drone attacks are down significantly and that the majority of Iran's largest naval vessels have been destroyed. "The Washington Post should tell the truth and stop trafficking lies and propaganda," he added.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly echoed the denial: "President Trump has always known this, and he has always had the full picture of the conflict. Nothing has surprised him or our military planners."

A Pattern of Deception

The accusations against Hegseth fit a broader pattern. The former Fox News host, who has asked to be called "Secretary of War," has no military command experience and was confirmed despite allegations of sexual assault, financial mismanagement at veterans' charities, and public drunkenness.

His appointment raised eyebrows among defense experts who questioned whether he had the experience to manage the Pentagon's $800 billion budget and 2.1 million active-duty and reserve personnel. Now, with U.S. jets falling from the sky and administration officials anonymously contradicting their own defense secretary, those concerns appear prescient.

The question is whether Trump will continue to believe Hegseth's highlight reels, or whether the mounting evidence of a messier conflict will force a reckoning. For now, the president seems content to repeat his defense secretary's claims of total dominance, even as Iranian air defenses prove otherwise.