Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff was allegedly steering some of his meetings in a weird direction. During a meeting with a group that works with veterans last month, chief of staff Joe Kasper began detailing a night out at a Washington strip club with one of the group’s representatives, according to someone present at the meeting. After multiple missteps and many complaints by staffers, it was revealed last week that Kasper would be reassigned to a different position in the department. That same week, Hegseth ousted three of his top members from his inner circle, who said they were “incredibly disappointed” by how their termination was handled. Hegseth himself has consistently found himself in hot water, from his involvement in “Signalgate” in March, to this week being accused by NBC News of sharing sensitive information to a 13-person Signal group chat, which included his brother and wife. Now, his inner circle also seems to be crumbling alongside him. When questioned about the Signal chat at the Easter Egg Roll Monday, Hegseth said: “This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations. Not going to work with me.”
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