President Donald Trump was reportedly shocked to learn how deeply Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had cut the Army’s leadership, prompting The Jim Acosta Show to wonder whether one of Trump’s closest aides had kept the bad news from him.
The jab came after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced his resignation following months of friction with Hegseth, and after he recently took his concerns directly to Trump, according to The Atlantic.
“Trump was surprised when Driscoll told him how many generals and other top officers had been fired, pushed out, or passed over for promotion under Hegseth,” one person familiar with their White House conversation told the outlet.
The revelation led The Jim Acosta Show’s Morning Memo to mock Trump for apparently being unaware of what was happening inside his own administration.
“I guess the Human Printer left those pages out of his daily Happy Time briefing,” morning newsletter writer Tommy Christopher joked Tuesday.
The “human printer” is a nickname colleagues have given Trump aide Natalie Harp for her tendency to supply the president with favorable printouts of media coverage from a portable printer she is known to carry, according to reports.
Driscoll resigned Monday after warning Trump that the Army could not make the changes it needed after losing so many experienced leaders, The Atlantic reported. Trump “expressed concern about the deep cuts,” the magazine added.
Hegseth has not publicly responded to Driscoll’s departure.
