Pete Hegseth Reportedly Invited Conspiracy Theorist Who Vowed to ‘Overthrow’ Democracy On First Overseas Trip

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth invited conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec to travel with him on his first overseas trip this week to visit European allies, scooped the Washington Post on Thursday.

Dan Lamothe, the Post’s military affairs correspondent, posted his scoop to X and noted that the invitation alarmed “numerous defense officials.” Lamothe reported, “News of Posobiec’s invitation circulated among U.S. officials in Washington and in Europe ahead of Hegseth’s visit this week to Germany, Belgium and Poland, officials said.” He added:

One official said the potential involvement of Posobiec, a Trump booster who is known for peddling conspiracy theories and trolling political adversaries online, has raised questions within the Pentagon about Hegseth’s judgment and what he aimed to communicate to U.S. allies.

Posobiec reported on his own accounts today being in Ukraine today with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. It was not clear as we published whether Posobiec will be joining tomorrow, as the defense secretary is in Poland.

Posobiec has long been a controversial figure in far-right politics after his “pizzagate” conspiracy theory led to a shooting at a Washington, DC pizza parlor. Posobiec was a driving force behind the claim that Democrats were running a child sex trafficking ring out of the pizza parlor. The claim is widely viewed as the precursor to the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Posobic, who is also a podcaster and editor of a website, has made many bombastic statements in speeches to MAGA audiences. At CPAC last year, Posobiec made headlines for declaring, “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it.”

The Post’s report comes in the wake of the Pentagon pushing several major media outlets out of their long-held workspace in the building. “CNN, The Washington Post, the Hill, and War Zone will be asked to leave their spaces, with Newsmax, the Washington Examiner, the Daily Caller, and the Free Press moving in, according to a memo from John Ullyot, acting assistant to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,” reported the AP recently, adding:

The decision, which the Pentagon Press Association called “unreasonable,” continues a pattern of hostility toward journalists by the administration, which this week said it was looking to cancel media subscriptions paid for by agencies of the federal government.

The White House has also made room for “new media” in the press briefing room, often granting a representative from Trump-friendly media outlets the first question at briefings.