Top Hegseth Aide Reportedly Spread False Rumor They Wore Disguises to Hit the Bars Together

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a joint press conference with Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in Tokyo Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff spread a rumor about himself and the secretary sneaking out of the Pentagon City Ritz-Carlton in disguise to go out drinking together, according to a bizarre New York Post report.

“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s top aide Ricky Buria told colleagues last year that he and his boss donned disguises and went out drinking together — a juicy bit of gossip that’s widely believed to be a lie and recklessly planted to sniff out leakers, The Post has learned. Two sources said that Buria, 44, told them separately in early 2025 that he and Hegseth, 45, slipped past the secretary’s security detail while he was staying at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Pentagon City,” reported the Post‘s Steven Nelson. “There’s no proof that the great escape actually happened, but the tale has reverberated within the administration and stoked continued frustration with Buria’s powerful role leading U.S. military policy.”

Some believe Buria was attempting to catch leakers, while others believe he may have had a more nefarious motive.

“My first impression of it was he was trying to figure out if I was going to tell other people. But then I come to find out a couple months later that he was running around telling people,” one source told Nelson.

Another source said he took Buria’s story seriously.

“He [Buria] made a mention that when [Hegseth] was staying at the Ritz before [his D.C.] house was ready but then also once in Tennessee that ‘a hat and sunglasses,’ or something to that effect, basically is all you need to be able to sneak out and that it was kind of amazing that nobody recognized them,” the source said,” said the source. “[Buria] said, ‘Yeah, hey look, I’m just there to make sure he’s protected and he doesn’t get in any sort of trouble and people don’t recognize him. But yeah, we have to sneak out.’”

Buria served as acting chief of staff for eight months, as Hegseth’s attempt to hire Buria permanently was initially blocked by the White House personnel office. It eventually relented in December. He previously served as an aide to Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told the Post, “This is false, and the Department is not going to entertain Washington gossip while we are focused on major military operations abroad.”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!