Donald Trump's Late-Night Leak Rant Fuels Pete Hegseth Feud Speculation

President Donald Trump tried to swat down reports of U.S. weapons shortages in the Iran war, then made the story louder.

In a Truth Social post after midnight Thursday, Trump insisted the United States has “massive amounts” of munitions and warned that officials leaking information about weapons stockpiles would be pursued. The post followed a Washington Post report that Trump had confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Camp David on July 31 after believing he had been misled about depleted U.S. arms supplies.

According to the Post, Trump told Hegseth he thought the stockpile issue “had been fixed.” Hegseth reportedly defended himself and pointed blame toward Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.

NBC News reported that Trump later angrily called Feinberg about the shortages, challenged him on how the Pentagon planned to solve the problem and threatened to fire him. Feinberg then reportedly held a late-night “crisis” meeting with senior Pentagon officials.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the Post’s account, writing on X, “I was at Camp David with President Trump and Secretary Hegseth. This literally never happened.”

She also said Trump “loves the Secretary and thinks he’s doing a tremendous job.”

Trump’s own response focused heavily on the substance of the weapons claims.

“We have massive amounts of Ammunition,” he wrote, adding that “large amounts” were being shipped where needed and that defense companies were building plants and factories.

Then came the warning: “The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down. Long term jail sentences will be sought!”

CNN reported that the U.S. military had used nearly 80 percent of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors during the Iran conflict, and that commanders had warned stockpiles were “dangerously low.”

Hegseth objected on X, writing, “That banner is NOT TRUE @CNN. Shame on you,” before adding, “We don’t hate the Fake News media enough.”

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell rejected both the reported Hegseth confrontation and the shortage claims, calling them “equally fictional.”

“Secretary Hegseth isn’t going anywhere and he’s going to continue to work side by side with Deputy Secretary Feinberg to execute President Trump’s agenda, strengthen America’s defense industrial base, and ensure our warfighters have every capability they need to deter and defeat any adversary,” Parnell said.

The episode adds to a familiar pattern inside Trump’s second White House: damaging leaks, public denials and then a hunt for who talked.

Trump later posted, “I am extremely happy with the job that Pete Hegseth is doing,” while accusing the media of “spreading false and completely unfounded rumors.”