
White House Denies Report of Trump Confronting Hegseth Over Missile Shortages
WASHINGTON D.C (VINnews)-President Trump reportedly confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Camp David last week over dwindling U.S. stocks of long-range precision munitions and air-defense interceptors, according to a Washington Post report published Wednesday. The shortages have constrained military options in the ongoing conflict with Iran, the newspaper said, citing two people familiar with the exchange.
Trump asked Hegseth why he believed the problem “had been fixed” after learning the stockpiles remained depleted, the Post reported. The discussion occurred on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting Friday at the presidential retreat in Maryland.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt forcefully rejected the account. “This is 100% fake news. Literally never happened. And President Trump has the utmost confidence in Secretary Hegseth,” she said.
Leavitt, who said she was present at Camp David with both men, added in a social media post that the story “was shopped to many outlets by someone clearly out to disparage the Secretary” and that Trump “loves the Secretary and thinks he’s doing a tremendous job.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell also denied the report, stating that Hegseth “did not mislead anyone about our munitions posture” and did not blame Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, as the Post’s sources claimed.
The Post reported that the U.S. military has used large quantities of munitions early in the conflict, including hundreds of Tomahawk missiles and Army systems in the first month, with replacement production timelines stretching up to two years for some weapons. Hegseth told a Senate panel last month that operations against Iran have cost about $37.5 billion and requested additional funding to rebuild stockpiles and expand production.
The White House and Pentagon maintain the confrontation never occurred and that U.S. munitions supplies remain robust amid ongoing production increases.