Trump Rages at ‘Leakers’ After WaPo Report of His Clash With Hegseth — Which Karoline Leavitt Denied

(John Locher/AP photo)

President Donald Trump vowed to punish the “leakers” in a Washington Post report who claimed he blew his top at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over weapons shortages in the Iran war — but never contended the piece was “fake news.”

The Post reported on Wednesday that Trump lost it on Hegseth at Camp David last week, demanding to know “why he had apparently been misled on extreme munitions shortages that now threaten to limit military options with Iran.”

The report, citing two people familiar with the situation who spoke out anonymously in fear of retaliation, added that Trump “vented at Hegseth that he thought the munitions issue ‘had been fixed.'”

Addressing the report on his Truth Social account after midnight on Thursday, Trump raged against the “leaker” who supplied The Post with the story, but there was no denial of the munition shortage claim in his tirade.

“The U.S. has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types,” he said. “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.”

He ended with a grave threat: “The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down. Long term jail sentences will be sought!”

Trump’s remarks came after strong denials of The Post report from the president’s communications team, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt and communication director Steven Cheung.

Leavitt told the paper, “This is 100% fake news. Literally never happened. And President Trump has the utmost confidence in Secretary Hegseth.”

She later posted to 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!”

In a reply to Leavitt’s X post, Cheung added, “FAKE NEWS WASHINGTON POST.”

The report, and Trump’s response, comes as the Iran war has dragged on for more than five months.

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