Daily Beast: Paranoid Kash Patel Polygraphs FBI Agents in MAGA Purge

Top brass at the agency are being pushed out as the chief continues his obsessive quest to plug leaks.

The FBI has devolved into chaos amid Director Kash Patel’s ongoing efforts to rid the agency of staff disloyal to the Trump administration.

Patel is now subjecting senior executives to polygraphs at a “rapid rate,” The New York Times reports, as part of a wider effort to stamp out embarrassing news leaks from within the agency.

One senior official told the Times in its exposé that he was forced out last month after being subjected to a lie detector test. He believes he was targeted because he hadn’t told Patel about his wife taking a knee during the 2020 protests against police brutality in Washington, D.C.

Internal critics say the firings, forced retirements, unfair reassignments, and unit shutdowns have not only “obliterated decades of experience in national security” from the agency but also signal that the agency will not brook dissent over the actions of Trump as well as as Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the latter two who were caught up in a leak scandal involving commercial messaging app Signal.

The less qualified you are, the more paranoid you become?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/paranoid-kash-patel-polygraphs-fbi-agents-in-maga-purge

Axios World: Trump administration accepts Qatari 747 to serve as Air Force One

The U.S. accepted Qatar’s gift of a Boeing 747 to serve as the new Air Force Onethe Pentagon said Wednesday, despite the ethical quandaries and potential constitutional violations it entails.

President Trump has brushed off any concerns about the appearance of accepting the $400 million gift despite objections from Democrats and some Republicans.

Trump scoffed at the criticism, saying it would be “stupid” to turn down a new Air Force One.

The Grifter-in-Chief gets what the Grifter-in-Chief desires.

The big question now is, “When will the Qataris call in the favor, and what will they want?”

https://www.axios.com/2025/05/21/trump-qatar-boeing-747-plane-accepted

Inquirer: US defense secretary’s chief of staff to leave his job: report

United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff will leave his job, Politico reported Thursday, in the latest shakeup to hit the upper echelons of the Pentagon’s leadership.

Joe Kasper had been expected to move to a different post at the Pentagon, but now intends to return to working on government relations and consulting, Politico said, citing an interview with him.

His departure is the latest in a series of high-profile exits from the Pentagon, including three top officials who were removed last week amid an investigation into leaks after they reportedly clashed with Kasper.

Former senior advisors Darin Selnick, Dan Caldwell and Colin Carroll hit back on Sunday, saying Pentagon officials had “slandered our character with baseless attacks.”

“We still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with,” they said in a joint statement posted on social media.

Hegseth’s former Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot also took aim at him in a scathing opinion piece on Sunday that described “a month of total chaos at the Pentagon.”

Hegseth & his children must learn to play nicely in their sandboxes.

https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/other/us-defense-secretary-s-chief-of-staff-to-leave-his-job-report/ar-AA1DzbCK

Politico: Pentagon to resume medical care for transgender troops

The move is another setback for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has made culture war issues a major part of his role.

The Pentagon will resume gender-affirming care for transgender service members, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO, an embarrassing setback to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s efforts to restrict their participation.

The memo says the Defense Department is returning to the Biden-era medical policy for transgender service members due to a court order that struck down Hegseth’s restrictions as unconstitutional. The administration is appealing the move, but a federal appeals court in California denied the department’s effort to halt the policy while its challenge is pending.

Current score is Wokes 1, Bigots 0!

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/transgender-troops-military-care-00306827

Polygraph Threats, Leaks and Infighting: The Chaos Inside Hegseth’s Pentagon

Defense secretary has chastised top military officers and staffers as he seeks to quiet a storm he helped create.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied discussing sensitive military information with his wife and others in the Signal app.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was rattled.

Word had leaked that he was planning a classified briefing for Elon Musk on China, a revelation that infuriated President Trump and raised alarms inside the Pentagon given Musk’s business ties to Beijing.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/pete-hegseth-pentagon-fired-aides-cfa9e0d5

Huffington Post: Congressman: It’s ‘Fair To Wonder’ If Pete Hegseth Was Drinking Amid Signal Use

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) said Monday that it’s “fair to wonder” if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been drinking alcohol again given his “reckless” use of Signal, a third-party messaging app, to share highly sensitive military plans with national security officials and separately with members of his family.

“When Secretary Hegseth keeps making reckless mistakes with our national security – like leaking war plans in Signal chats or the chaos we’re seeing at the Pentagon – it’s fair to wonder if he actually stopped drinking like he promised during his confirmation,” Gomez told HuffPost in a statement. “People have legitimate concerns about whether his judgment is compromised.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/congressman-it-s-fair-to-wonder-if-pete-hegseth-was-drinking-amid-signal-use/ar-AA1DlzsX

WCCO Radio: Hegseth had a second Signal chat where he shared details of Yemen strike

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of a March military airstrike against Yemen’s Houthi militants that were sent in another chain with top Trump administration leaders, both The New York Times reported and CBS News has confirmed.

The second chat on Signal — which is a commercially available app not authorized to be used to communicate sensitive or classified national defense information — included 13 people, the person said. The person also confirmed the chat was dubbed “Defense ‘ Team Huddle.”

The New York Times reported that the group included Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, who is a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil Hegseth, who was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser. Both have traveled with the defense secretary and attended high-level meetings.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/hegseth-had-a-second-signal-chat-where-he-shared-details-of-yemen-strike/ar-AA1DjQgV

Daily Beast: Trump’s Joint Chiefs Pick Throws Prez Under the Bus in Confirmation Hearing

President Donald Trump’s pick to be chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff refused to lie for the president and instead threw his prospective boss under the bus at a confirmation hearing.

Retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine told a Senate committee on Tuesday morning that he was not wearing a red MAGA hat when he first met Trump in Iraq in 2018—after the president claimed he was.

“For 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission,” Caine told Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican, according to Politico. “And I have never worn any political merchandise.”

Trump’s Joint Chiefs Pick Throws Prez Under the Bus in Confirmation Hearing