A former Pentagon spokesman and close ally of Pete Hegseth has aired out dirty laundry about the ‘full-blown meltdown’ that his old boss should be terminated for.
John Ullyot announced his resignation as from the Pentagon press shop on Wednesday, claiming his time there was never meant to be permanent and he was only doing a favor to Hegseth.
He had a tumultuous tenure that included defending the temporary deletion of a government website of baseball hero Jackie Robinson’s military service as an anti-DEI move, before three staffers were fired after an internal investigation.
Writing an op-ed for Politico on Sunday, Ullyot knifed his old boss and exposed the chaos currently unfolding inside the Pentagon – before sharing his belief that Donald Trump should fire Hegseth himself.
Ullyot said that he was ‘a longtime backer of the secretary,’ and ‘value[s] his friendship’ and even wrote a separate op-ed saying that he was the man to reform the DOD when his nomination was in trouble.
However, he called the last month at the Pentagon ‘a full-blown meltdown’ that has devolved into ‘total chaos’ and said that ‘the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president – who deserves better from his senior leadership.’
‘It’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer,’ he added.
Ullyot went on to criticize Hegseth directly over the Signal group chat leak.
John Ullyot (pictured), a former Pentagon spokesman and close ally of Pete Hegseth, is airing out dirty laundry about a ‘full-blown meltdown’ that his old boss should be terminated for
Writing in an op-ed for Politico Sunday, however, Ullyot says those cuts won’t be the first and could and in his opinion, should end with Donald Trump firing Hegseth (pictured) himself
He called his attempts to debunk The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg’s reporting ‘Clinton-esque’ and ‘followed horrible crisis-communications advice’ from Ullyot’s replacements, led by Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell.
Hegseth, Ullyot claims, only made things worse by forcing Goldberg’s hand to release further details of the chat, leading to ‘a multi-week embarrassment’ for the Pentagon.
He also slammed Hegseth for including his wife, former Fox News producer Jennifer Hegseth, to meetings that dealt with sensitive information and setting up a briefing on China for ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk.
Ullyot also pointed to news that broke on Sunday that Hegseth’s wife, brother and personal attorney were all clued in to another Signal group chat about U.S. military strikes in Yemen.
He then warned of further chaos to come: ‘There are very likely more shoes to drop in short order, with even bigger bombshell stories coming this week, key Pentagon reporters have been telling sources privately.’
He reiterated that Hegseth is a good man and a patriot and he has already accomplished many things at his time at the Pentagon that Ullyot is proud of.
However, the ‘month from Hell’ that Hegseth has suffered has forced President Trump to see his Defense Department focus ‘no longer on warfighting, but on endless drama.’
Hegseth (pictured right) was one of President Trump’s (pictured left) most controversial Cabinet nominees
Ullyot (pictured) warned of further chaos to come: ‘There are very likely more shoes to drop in short order, with even bigger bombshell stories coming this week, key Pentagon reporters have been telling sources privately’
Ullyot concluded by saying that he and many of those closest to Hegseth will ‘applaud quietly’ if Trump fires him.
‘The president deserves better than the current mishegoss at the Pentagon,’ he added.
When reached by DailyMail.com, a spokesperson for the Pentagon declined comment.
The last month at the Pentagon has featured scandal and upheaval, leading to palace intrigue and several staffers fired amid an investigation.
Hegseth was a part of a group chat that had been revealed after National Security Advisor Mike Waltz accidentally included Atlantic editor Goldberg in the unsecured Signal chat.
In it, figures such as JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Hegseth discussing the ongoing military strikes occurring in Yemen in real-time – all while Goldberg was present.
The White House went on to confirm the breach – as figures like Hegseth denied it. Such claims were quickly put to bed by Goldberg late last month, when the Atlantic released several of the messages in question.
They showed high-powered chat-members openly discussing forthcoming strikes on the Houthis in Yemen – strikes that ultimately came to fruition.
Ullyot called Hegseth’s (pictured) attempts to debunk The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg’s reporting ‘Clinton-esque’ and ‘followed horrible crisis-communications advice’ from Ullyot’s replacements, led by Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell
This caused many to question the Trump team’s security practices – a dynamic that seemingly gave way to several officials who’d worked under Waltz being abruptly fired Thursday.
Despite Waltz being spared, a ‘forensic review’ from the White House appeared to peg him as the one at fault – showing how he mistakenly saved Goldberg’s number after the latter contacted the Trump campaign last October.
The Pentagon has since opened an investigation into leaks including the group chat, as well as other cases where private information has leaked to the press.
President Donald Trump has railed against those with loose lips, particularly when it comes to leaking information about his administration. He has ordered them to be found.
This past week, three top staffers for Hegseth who were suspended as part of the Signal group chat investigation have each been terminated.
Darin Selnick, the Pentagon‘s deputy chief of staff, and Dan Caldwell – a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were placed on administrative leave as part of the probe.
Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, was suspended a day later.
All three have since been let go, a spokesman for the Pentagon told DailyMail.com Friday night.
The news comes days after Defense aides Dan Caldwell (left) and Darin Selnick (right) were terminated after allegedly being identified during the leak investigation
Colin Carroll (pictured left), chief of staff to the Deputy Defense Secretary, has also been fired as part of a leak investigation, while Hegseth’s Chief of Staff Joe Kasper (pictured right) is also set to resign in the coming days
Hegseth’s Chief of Staff Joe Kasper is also set to resign in the coming days, Politico reported.
A senior defense official told DailyMail.com of Kasper: ‘At this time no final senior staffing changes have been decided, and the Secretary will make any future announcements on his own timetable.’
Kasper’s departure would be especially curious, as he put in the request for an investigation into multiple leaks out of the Pentagon last month.
Caldwell, once one of Hegseth’s most senior advisors, issued a joint statement on Saturday along with two other terminated officials casting doubt on an internal leak investigation that led to their ouster this week.
‘We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended,’ Caldwell posted on X.
‘Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door.’
Caldwell and the others added: ‘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.’
The comments were the first by Caldwell since it was first disclosed that he was escorted out of the Pentagon building on Tuesday.
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg shared screengrabs of a chat with key administration officials he was accidentally added to in March
On Sunday, Hegseth (pictured center right) has again been accused of sharing details of a US foreign military attack in a Signal group chat, this time including his wife Jennifer (pictured center left), brother and personal lawyer
Ullyot himself announced his resignation on Wednesday, claiming his time at the Pentagon was never meant to be permanent.
‘I made clear to Secretary Hegseth before the inauguration that I was not interested in being number two to anyone in public affairs,’ he said in a statement to Politico.
‘Last month, as that time approached, the Secretary and I talked and could not come to an agreement on another good fit for me at DOD. So I informed him today that I will be leaving at the end of this week.’
Then, on Sunday night, Hegseth was again accused of sharing details of a US foreign military attack in a Signal group chat, this time including his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The chat contained details of a March attack on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in one of the first strikes of Hegseth’s tenure, The New York Times reported and the Associated Press confirmed.
It raises more questions about his use of an unclassified messaging system to share highly sensitive security details.
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 and was dubbed ‘Defense ‘ Team Huddle.’
The information shared ‘included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen,’ the newspaper reported.
Ullyot appears to take shots at his replacements, including new Pentagon Chief Spokesman Sean Parnell (pictured)
The upheaval comes less than 100 days into the Trump administration where the Pentagon has found itself frequently in the epicenter of controversial moves
The outlet said that unlike the accidental leak where journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly included in the group, this group chat was created by Hegseth.
Hegseth’s wife Jennifer, a former producer at the Defense Secretary’s ex-employer Fox News, is not an employee of the Defense Department.
His brother Phil and attorney Tim Parlatore do have jobs at the Pentagon but it is not clear if they are on a need-to-know basis regarding attacks. Phil Hegseth is a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser.
Both Phil and Jennifer have been traveling with the Defense Secretary and attending high-level meetings.
‘The truth is that there is an informal group chat that started before confirmation of his closest advisers,’ a U.S. official told The New York Times. ‘Nothing classified was ever discussed on that chat.’
In a statement to DailyMail.com, the White House dismissed the story and put the blame on the recently fired staffers.
‘No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same non-story, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared,’ Anna Kelly said.
‘Recently-fired ‘leakers’ are continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the President’s agenda, but the administration will continue to hold them accountable.’
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell echoed that this was merely the liberal media trying to re-hash old news.
‘Another day, another old story—back from the dead. The Trump-hating media continues to be obsessed with destroying anyone committed to President Trump’s agenda,’ he said.
He added that they ‘relied only on the words of people who were fired this week and appear to have a motive to sabotage the Secretary and the President’s agenda.’
Parnell said that there was zero classified information in the chat and that the Pentagon ‘is continuing to become stronger and more efficient in executing President Trump’s agenda’ and ‘will never back down.’
DailyMail.com has also reached out to Parlatore for comment.
The upheaval comes less than 100 days into the Trump administration where the Pentagon has found itself frequently in the epicenter of controversial moves – from firings of senior military and civilian staff to broad edicts to purge content that promoted diversity, equity or inclusion.
That led to images or other online content of heroes like the Tuskegee Airmen and Jackie Robinson being temporarily removed from the military’s websites, causing public uproar.
