One collection of documents is locked inside a Northern Virginia gun safe. A second is stored in a Washington, DC, bank safe-deposit box. A third has been hidden somewhere on the West Coast.
Together, the files contain evidence that frustrated Defense Department officials hope could eventually drive Pete Hegseth from office after next week’s midterm elections.
Pentagon sources told Our News Outlet that they and their colleagues have spent roughly 22 months gathering emails, memoranda and notes from meetings.
According to the sources, the records describe instances in which the defense secretary and members of his inner circle allegedly dismissed strategic and legal guidance, lashed out at the specialists providing it, kept information from Congress and the public, and threatened the careers of officials who questioned their decisions or were deemed too woke, overweight, queer or disloyal.
The officials believe the documentation, together with a roster of potential witnesses inside the department, could prove valuable if Democrats win back the House in November and launch an expected impeachment inquiry in 2027.
‘We’re ready with the receipts,’ said a longtime Army officer who keeps a Trapper Keeper — once used by his daughter in high school — inside a basement gun safe secured with two locks. He believes the contents could eventually help bring down his boss.
He is among several Defense Department insiders who described coordinated plans to provide lawmakers with documentary evidence and firsthand accounts as they consider investigating — and potentially impeaching — Hegseth.
All spoke anonymously, citing fears for their jobs, military pensions and ability to continue building a case from within the Pentagon.
Pentagon insiders have spent months quietly assembling potentially damaging material about Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, hoping it could contribute to his removal after the midterm elections, Our News Outlet has learned
Hegseth visits troops in the Middle East in May. Sources inside the department say repeated leadership changes have left service members uncertain about the military’s future direction (Source: SecWar/X account)
‘We’re putting ourselves at risk. You have to protect us,’ one insider said.
The disclosures come after news broke Wednesday that Hegseth had dismissed the Pentagon’s senior military planner, Army Lt Gen Brett Sylvia.
Sylvia, who previously oversaw strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was reportedly removed over allegations that he leaked classified information about the war in Iran and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. His firing came as President Donald Trump considers renewed strikes against Iran after next week’s midterm elections.
Since early 2025, Our News Outlet has maintained contact with a core group of military and civilian officials who, alongside others at the department, have pursued different avenues to raise concerns about Hegseth.
The former Fox & Friends host has renamed the federal government’s largest agency the ‘Department of War.’ His critics say he operates it as a personal fiefdom.
The sources first expressed concern about the prominent role played by Hegseth’s wife, former Fox News producer Jennifer Hegseth.
After reports emerged that she had participated in encrypted Signal chats involving sensitive details of a March 2025 US strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen, insiders revealed the nickname they use for her inside the Pentagon: ‘Yoko Ono,’ a reference to her regular presence at her husband’s official meetings.
By spring 2025, the insiders were accusing Hegseth of making decisions and setting policy without seeking — or even listening to — advice from intelligence, security, logistics and legal officials.
Hegseth’s opponents are counting on a possible Democratic House majority to begin impeachment proceedings, although some believe sustained political pressure could persuade President Trump to dismiss him
They portrayed an organization marked by politicized decisions, dysfunction, poor morale and an atmosphere of suspicion that they attributed to Hegseth’s determination to eliminate dissent.
Several officials outlined their complaints in a 2025 letter circulated among senior and midlevel military leaders and civilian employees. One participant said the message was intended to ensure that ‘the American public knows this guy has no clue what he’s doing.’
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell dismissed the allegations at the time as ‘palace intrigue’ and ‘sensationalized mainstream media gossip’ that Americans ‘don’t care about.’
‘They care about action,’ his statement said.
The concerns intensified as Hegseth continued removing senior officials, including the Army secretary and chief of staff, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Navy’s top officer, the commander of US forces in Europe and Africa, the judge advocates general of three military branches and dozens of civilian Pentagon employees.
The insiders became still more alarmed after dozens of extrajudicial strikes on suspected drug traffickers began in the Caribbean and western Pacific last fall. Their criticism escalated again in February, when the Trump administration launched attacks on Iran without a declaration of war or specific congressional authorization.
Hegseth declared an early victory over Iran last winter and said the United States had achieved ‘every single objective.’
The sources, however, said he ignored or concealed several troubling realities of the conflict: that the military had not been fully prepared for the attack, that US installations across the Middle East sustained heavy damage and that supplies of critical munitions were running low.
Hegseth has also faced criticism over allegations that he sought to promote a narrow form of Christian nationalism throughout the military
The sources say the mockery has increasingly included Jennifer Hegseth. She is reportedly known as ‘Yoko,’ after Yoko Ono, for attending senior meetings and taking part in a sensitive Signal discussion about military operations despite having no official Pentagon position
As recently as Friday, Trump warned that the United States ‘may do another little [Operation] Epic Fury’ against Iran in the near future.
Every Pentagon insider interviewed by Our News Outlet said Hegseth had repeatedly been warned that an extended war with Iran could not be sustained.
Some believe his new ‘doomsday plan’ — requiring every major US military base to prepare to operate for at least 90 days without outside electricity, fuel, water or supplies — is an attempt to address the danger without directly urging the president to abandon his war plans.
‘Pete knows how fortunate he is to still be there. He will never say no to Trump,’ one source said.
Two sources said they had participated, either directly or indirectly, in briefings for members of Congress and their staffs about Hegseth’s leadership of the military.
Those meetings were deliberately informal and low-tech, and took place far from both Capitol Hill and the Pentagon. One source said briefings occurred at a sandwich shop and even at a dog park.
Challenging the boss carries substantial risks.
Two sources described an informal arrangement under which meetings with lawmakers and conversations with journalists would be handled by officials close to retirement rather than employees with many years left in their careers.
Disgruntled military and civilian officials have reportedly hidden emails, memoranda and meeting notes in secure locations, hoping eventually to provide the material to lawmakers
Military personnel listen as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in September
‘If anyone pays the price, it should be those of us who have already raised our families and put our children through college,’ one official said.
Some members of Congress have already attempted to intervene.
Last December, Michigan Democratic Representative Shri Thanedar introduced two articles of impeachment.
The first concerned the boat strikes in the Caribbean, which some Pentagon insiders told us could constitute war crimes.
The second alleged that Hegseth transmitted classified war plans through Signal to individuals without security clearances — his wife in one chat and The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in another.
In April, Arizona Democratic Representative Yassamin Ansari filed six articles of impeachment. Her allegations included launching an unauthorized war against Iran, targeting civilians at a school there and obstructing congressional oversight.
Both initiatives were blocked in Republican-controlled committees.
Last month, outgoing Republican Representative Thomas Massie went further, reading eight impeachment articles on the House floor, including the claims raised by Thanedar and Ansari.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie has previously called for Hegseth’s impeachment and plans to renew the effort after the midterms
When Massie sought to force a vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson adjourned the chamber early and sent lawmakers home until after the midterms. The Kentucky Republican plans to make another attempt during the week of November 9.
A growing number of Republicans in both chambers are reportedly questioning their support for Hegseth. Even so, Massie’s resolution may face significant obstacles in a House still controlled by the GOP.
‘Trump should fire Hegseth to avoid Hegseth’s impeachment,’ Massie wrote on X on October 15. He added, ‘It’s the honorable thing to do.’ The post came the same day Trump overruled his defense chief’s plan to livestream the firing-squad execution of the man convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.
Military and civilian Defense Department employees are generally expected to remain politically neutral while at work.
But one longtime officer, who said he had avoided politics throughout a career spanning more than 30 years, said Hegseth’s appointment made that neutrality increasingly difficult.
‘Democratic control can’t come soon enough,’ said the registered Republican, who hopes Democrats will soon have the votes and subpoena power to launch formal investigations.
House Democrats have made no secret of their desire to force Hegseth from office. Candidates campaigning across the country have blamed him for sharply rising gas prices and for an Iran war with no clear end.
California Representative Jared Huffman has called the secretary an ‘unhinged fanatic’ whose tenure should end immediately.
Virginia Representative Suhas Subramanyam, the senior Democrat on the oversight subcommittee handling military and foreign affairs, has said he supports investigating Hegseth in the next Congress.
Sources previously told Our News Outlet that Hegseth, pictured on September 2, has been running the Department of War as though it were his personal fiefdom
New Mexico Representative Melanie Stansbury has said impeachment should rank among the House Democrats’ three highest priorities.
‘One of the first things we’re going to do in the majority is run Pete Hegseth out of town,’ House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become speaker in January, told voters in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
A staff member of the House Armed Services Committee, speaking anonymously, said he is in regular contact with multiple Pentagon whistleblowers and aware of their efforts to assemble evidence for a possible impeachment inquiry.
HAVE A STORY?
Email us at: newsUS@dailymail.com
The House has impeached a secretary of war only once. In 1876, Secretary of War William Belknap resigned to President Ulysses Grant just minutes before the House vote. The Senate later acquitted him.
Even if Democrats secure the simple House majority needed to impeach Hegseth next term, the case would proceed to a Senate trial, where conviction requires a two-thirds supermajority.
‘It’s a longshot,’ the committee staffer acknowledged.
The insiders said they would welcome outcomes short of conviction if those developments still resulted in Hegseth’s departure.
One possibility would be Trump dismissing him, as he did Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem fewer than two months after impeachment articles were filed against her. Another would be Hegseth resigning amid sustained political pressure.
Hegseth has reportedly been considering a presidential run since appearing at a political event in Iowa in August, although he has called that report ‘100% false.’
In recent weeks, he has also reportedly sought to position himself for a Senate appointment by Marsha Blackburn if she wins the Tennessee governor’s race in November, as expected. Hegseth briefly lived in the state before joining the Cabinet.
An insider who once viewed Hegseth favorably said the secretary had faced intense scrutiny since his confirmation hearings in early 2025, when senators from both parties questioned him over allegations of heavy drinking and a 2017 sexual-assault claim. Hegseth denied both allegations.
He narrowly won confirmation in a 50-50 vote that was broken by Vice President JD Vance.
‘His critics left no room for the possibility that he had changed his behavior or that service members might welcome him,’ the source said.
The insider pointed to continuing attacks on Hegseth’s outspoken opposition to wokeness and his Christian-nationalist views, positions that he said remain popular among many rank-and-file troops.
He described other complaints — including the makeup studio Hegseth had installed at the Pentagon, staged weightlifting photo opportunities with troops, and new grooming rules and testosterone testing for service members — as ‘petty distractions, but not impeachable offenses.’
That source said the debate should focus less on culture-war disputes and more on what he considers possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Caribbean and Iran.
‘Let’s focus on the big issues, not the distractions,’ he said Friday.
Former President Barack Obama revived some of those lesser criticisms on Saturday.
‘You’ve got the defense secretary … he’s very focused on important matters like the jawlines and testosterone levels of our troops,’ Obama told a campaign rally in Ohio.
‘How much time do you think this defense secretary spends looking at himself in the mirror in the morning?’
In response to Our News Outlet’s request for comment, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said: ‘At the War Department, we are solely focused on Peace Through Strength and ensuring our warfighters have everything they need to be successful. We are proud to serve our warriors.’
