President Donald Trump on Thursday escalated his attacks on The Washington Post, accusing the newspaper of publishing “treasonous” reporting as he forcefully denied claims he clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over U.S. weapons stockpiles
In a Truth Social post, Trump dismissed reports of a rift between the two men as “false and completely unfounded rumors” and declared he was “extremely happy” with Hegseth’s performance.
“The Fake News, as usual, is spreading false and completely unfounded rumors,” Trump wrote. “I am extremely happy with the job that Pete Hegseth is doing.”
Trump praised Hegseth’s leadership, citing military operations involving Venezuela and Iran, increased military recruitment and the Pentagon’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. He also mocked The Washington Post as “The Washington ComPost,” saying the outlet had been told its reporting was “completely FALSE” before publication.
“In actuality, I really believe their fake ‘reporting’ is treasonous!” Trump wrote.
Trump was responding to a Thursday Washington Post report, citing two people familiar with the matter, that he privately confronted Hegseth during a Camp David meeting last week over U.S. munitions supplies, demanding to know why he had “apparently been misled on extreme munitions shortages that now threaten to limit military options with Iran.”
The Truth Social post marked Trump’s strongest public denial of the report after White House officials earlier rejected the account.
Earlier Thursday, the president also criticized the story, though he initially directed more of his ire at anonymous sources than at the newspaper itself. In a separate Truth Social post, Trump vowed to pursue “long term jail sentences” for government officials he accused of leaking information to the press.
“The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down,” Trump wrote. “Long term jail sentences will be sought!”
Trump has frequently accused news organizations of publishing “fake news,” but Thursday’s remarks went even further by explicitly referring to The Washington Post’s reporting as “treasonous.” He did not provide any piece of evidence to support that allegation.
