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For Trump, Hegseth’s take-no-prisoners approach is a growing liability
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For Donald Trump, the political price of Pete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon has increased.
PHOTO: REUTERS
David E. Sanger and Helene Cooper
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WASHINGTON - Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has been a political problem for President Donald Trump since his confirmation in the Senate early in 2025, which he survived thanks to a single, tie-breaking vote cast by Vice-President J.D. Vance.
He survived the leaked Signal chat episode, even when it became clear he had copied classified battle plans and pasted them into an encrypted, but unclassified, messaging chain.
