Fired
Pete Hegseth Adviser Tells Tucker Carlson He Was Framed: ‘A Lot of Evidence
That There Is Not a Real Investigation’
Charlie Nash Apr 22nd, 2025, 6:27 am
Dan
Caldwell, the former senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth,
denied leaking classified information to the press on Monday, suggesting he had
been set up by opponents of Hegseth’s foreign policy within the Pentagon.
During an
interview with Caldwell on The Tucker Carlson Show, Trump ally and former Fox
News host Tucker Carlson asked, “I just want to be totally direct with you. Did
you leak classified information against the wishes of your superiors to media
outlets?”
“Absolutely
not,” replied Caldwell, who also denied sending photos of classified material
to an NBC reporter and claimed he had not even “spoken to an NBC reporter while
at the Pentagon.”
Caldwell
went on to say that he did not even know what he was officially being accused
of, arguing, “There’s a lot of evidence that there is not a real
investigation.”
After
Carlson asked Caldwell whether he had been polygraphed or told to hand over his
electronic devices to the Department of Defense, Caldwell replied no to both
questions.
“You’re
being accused of leaking classified information, but the people accusing you
would have no way of knowing whether you did that or not because they haven’t
polygraphed you or taken your devices, your private devices,” Carlson declared.
Caldwell
suggested that the true source of the leaks were opponents of President Donald
Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary Hegseth’s foreign policy within
the Pentagon, who had been pushing for war with Iran.
Asked how he
felt after being fired and escorted out of the Pentagon, Caldwell said,
“Sometimes I feel like it hasn’t fully set in because it does feel like a
dream. It’s like, ‘when am I gonna wake up?'”
“It’s been
awful. I mean, the impact on my family… It’s been devastating and it’s caused a
lot of stress to my family,” he continued. “I’ve been a friend and supporter of
Pete Hegseth for a long time and I’m just personally devastated by this. It’s
just awful and whatnot. But at the end of the day, putting all this aside, Pete
Hegseth needs to be a successful secretary of defense, and the entire
Department of Defense cannot be, continue to be, consumed by chaos.”
Caldwell
concluded the show by thanking Carlson for his own efforts to prevent a war
with Iran.
“Tucker,
it’s been an honor to be here, and I just want to say I think you should feel
proud because you have played a key role in helping stop some really bad stuff
in foreign policy,” he said. “Your platform has really helped turn the tide, I
think, in a lot of different ways and I think you deserve a lot of credit.”
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