Another Trump Cabinet official caught using taxpayer funds for partisan video: report

Government watchdog groups say Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth likely broke federal law by having Pentagon staff and taxpayer-funded resources produce a self-promotional video attacking Democrats as he fights to keep his job, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The roughly six-minute video, recorded outside the Pentagon, went up on social media Thursday as part of what the Post called “a highly unorthodox Defense Department messaging campaign.” It came days after Republicans’ historic collapse in the midterm elections.

In the video, Hegseth attacks former President Joe Biden and members of Congress from both parties who have called for his resignation or firing. He also defends the unpopular Iran war, touts what he sees as his accomplishments in office and heaps praise on President Donald Trump.

Hegseth’s office confirmed to the Post that Defense Department staff recorded and produced the video. It declined to say how much it cost or whether anyone reviewed it for compliance with federal legal and ethics rules.

“The pro-Trump and self-laudatory remarks in the video are clear violations of the ban on using federal funds for propaganda, the specific and repeated mentions of funding bills violates the anti-lobbying statute, and the blatant effort to oppose the Democrats’ agenda for accountability is a potential violation of the Hatch Act,” said Donald K. Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Abigail Bellows of Common Cause agreed. She told the Post that using social media “to criticize Democrats, whether it’s because he’s re-auditioning for his job or any other reason,” violates the law.

The Hatch Act bars federal employees, including Cabinet secretaries, from activity “directed at the success or failure of a political party” while on duty or inside a federal building. It also bars political appointees and the civilian staff under them from using social media to advocate for or against a political party.

Republicans are raising questions too.

“Cabinet secretaries shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer dollars on campaign-style videos. Kristi L. Noem learned that the hard way,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told the Post. Tillis cast a decisive vote to confirm Hegseth last year and is retiring at the end of the year.

Tillis was referring to the $200 million advertising campaign that Noem, Trump’s then-homeland security secretary, ran at taxpayer expense shortly before the president replaced her.

It isn’t the first time Hegseth has used Pentagon resources for partisan messaging. In May, a Defense Department video on his official X account showed a comic-book-style Biden smashing a chocolate ice cream cone into his own face while Hegseth said the former president “chronically underinvested” in the military.

Trump himself was sued before Election Day for diverting more than $20 million in taxpayer funds to an ad campaign touting his accomplishments since returning to the White House.

Hegseth is unlikely to face consequences. According to the watchdog groups, any Hatch Act investigation would have to come from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which is unlikely to act after Trump fired the agency’s head early in his second term. Joe Spielberger of the Project on Government Oversight added that the office typically avoids prosecuting suspected Cabinet-level violations to stay nonpartisan.

Hegseth’s political troubles are another matter. He could face an impeachment vote in the House as soon as next week, in an effort led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), an opponent of the Iran war. In Thursday’s video, Hegseth called Massie “disgruntled” and his articles of impeachment a “sham.”

Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both acknowledged that broad disapproval of the Iran war, now in its ninth month, was a leading reason for the GOP’s losses.

Even Rep. James Comer (R-KY), one of Trump’s fiercest defenders in Congress, wouldn’t back Hegseth when NewsNation asked Friday whether Trump should replace him. Comer said lawmakers have “a lot of questions about” the Pentagon chief and want to know how the administration plans to end the war.

“We have no idea,” Comer said, “what the strategy is moving forward.”