(Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via AP)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly fell for a “batshit crazy” wiretap theory allegedly “cooked up” by his own divorce lawyer that helped justify the ousting of three top Pentagon officials.
Sources told New York Magazine’s Kerry Howley, for a sprawling piece about dysfunction and chaos at the Department of Defense, that attorney Tim Parlatore, a longtime ally of Hegseth with no formal role at the Pentagon, told senior officials that one of Hegseth’s closest advisers, Dan Caldwell, had been “wiretapped” by the NSA and caught leaking classified documents.
The explosive claim, which was used internally to support Caldwell’s firing, left senior White House staffers stunned. When pressed to explain how such a wiretap could exist, or whether it had even been authorized, Parlatore reportedly refused to elaborate. Parlatore denied being behind the wiretap tale, according to New York.
“It was a ‘batshit crazy’ story,” one source close to the White House told the outlet, adding that Parlatore appeared to have told “ten or 12” top officials, including Hegseth, who believed it.
Caldwell, a former Marine
“We don’t want a Secretary of Defense who can’t even fire people properly,” Carroll told New York. “Pete can’t even be a good villain.”
Parlatore, best known for representing Mob Wives reality TV star Ramona Rizzo and who New York reports was once deemed “unstable” by Trump himself, was installed as the face of a leak investigation ordered as Hegseth grew fearful of reporting on the inner workings of the Pentagon. The purge of close aides to Hegseth, which were seen internally to be based on little evidence, caused havoc and confusion in the department.
Hegseth now has no chief or deputy chief of staff. According to multiple sources, Pentagon hiring has stalled, morale has cratered, and the White House has “lost faith” in the probe entirely.
The identity of the original leaker, if one ever existed, remains unknown.