White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has erupted at a journalist in a rare foul-mouthed rant over claims that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump clashed during their Camp David retreat.
The US president reportedly became angry with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over
accounts of ammunition shortages among US forces fighting in Iran.
Speaking to the Washington Post, two anonymous sources said that the clash happened at Camp David, where the cabinet met for a special meeting. Reportedly, Trump raged that he thought the munitions problem had been fixed. Sharing a post from the reporter who first broke the story, Leavitt wrote on X: “I was at Camp David with President Trump and Secretary Hegseth. This literally never happened, and we told the Washington Post that repeatedly.
“This B.S. story was shopped to many outlets by someone clearly out to disparage the Secretary, for whatever reason. Unfortunately for them, the President loves the Secretary and thinks he’s doing a tremendous job. FAKE NEWS!”
The Post reported that Hegseth tried to shift the blame to his deputy, Stephen Feinberg, who then got an angry call from Trump himself. The president even threatened to fire Feinberg, the Post reported.
Leavitt previously told the Post: “This is 100% fake news. Literally never happened. President Trump has the utmost confidence in Secretary Hegseth.”
Hegseth has been hitting back at reports the US stockpile of ammo
is low. Reacting to a CNN broadcast banner that said the US military has used nearly four-fifths of its air-defense weapons, Hegseth wrote: “That banner is NOT TRUE @CNN. Shame on you. We don’t hate the Fake News media enough.”
As a peace deal continues to elude the US president, US forces are burning through huge amounts of weaponry in strikes across the Middle Eastern country while defending from Iranian retaliation. New analysis found that the US military’s already diminished stockpiles of advanced missile interceptors are running out, potentially putting American troops at more risk if hostilities resume.
Shrunken inventories of Patriot and THAAD interceptors may force the US and its Middle Eastern allies to take more risks to conserve those air defenses, according to the analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
For example, it said, American forces may launch fewer missiles against incoming Iranian drones and missiles, raising the chance of one getting through.
Trump hit back, claiming the US has “massive” amounts of munitions left and vowed that those leaking the information to the media would face “long-term jail sentences.” Trump has frequently used social media to issue threats throughout the war.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump insisted: ” The US has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types. Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed. Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history. The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down. Long term jail sentences will be sought!”
