A ‘Purge Is Underway at the Pentagon’ as Trump and Hegseth Clean House Among Joint Chiefs of Staff: Report
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is reportedly seeking nominations for key military leadership positions following a Friday night “purge” at the Pentagon by President Donald Trump.
Trump announced in a Friday night Truth Special post that he had fired Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The president called Brown a “fine gentleman and an outstanding leader” but said he was going in another direction.
“Today, I am honored to announce that I am nominating Air Force Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Trump added. “General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a “warfighter” with significant interagency and special operations experience.”
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins first reported on social media Friday evening Trump had also directed Hegseth to purge others leading American armed forces branches.
“A major (and long rumored) purge is underway at the Pentagon tonight,” Collins posted on X. “After President Trump ousts the Joint Chiefs Chairman, Secretary Hegseth fires the chief of the Navy, the vice chief of the Air Force and says he’s “requesting nominations” for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force, indicating they’ll be replaced. We’ll have the latest at 9 p.m. ET.”
On Friday night’s The Source, Collins noted Brown had visited the country’s border with Mexico earlier in the day and might have found out about his termination through the media.
Collins then aired a clip of Hegseth telling podcaster Shawn Ryan on Nov. 15 that Brown and other military leaders needed to be axed for pushing “woke bullshit.”
“You gotta fire the chairman of the joint chiefs, and you got to fire this – I mean, obviously you’re going to bring in a new secretary of defense, but any general that was involved, general, admiral, whatever that was involved in any of the DEI, woke bullshit has got to go,” Hegseth told Ryan.
CNN reported the Trump administration was also seeking to target top Judge Advocate General’s Corps attorneys (JAGs):
The JAGs are the military’s top lawyers who administer the military code of justice, including defending and prosecuting US service members in military court.
Hegseth has previously railed against the military’s Judge Advocates General (JAG), calling them “jagoffs” in his book. When pressed during his recent confirmation hearing to explain himself, Hegseth said, “It would be a JAG Officer who puts his or her own priorities in front of the warfighters – their promotions, their medals, in front of having the backs of those who are making the tough calls on the front line.”
Watch above via CNN.
