Once a television host, always a television host.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent thousands of dollars to turn a Pentagon room into a makeup studio earlier this year, according to CBS News.
He made the seemingly costly renovation to the green room immediately next to the Pentagon press briefing room while enacting deep cuts to department programs and staff, part of the Trump administration’s efforts to root out wasteful spending.
The Pentagon defended Hegseth’s decision to install the makeup studio Tuesday, calling the renovation “routine.”
“Changes and upgrades to the Pentagon Briefing Room are nothing new and routinely happen during changes in an administration,” a Defense Department spokesperson told CBS News.
One source said that the room was originally sparsely furnished with a table, chairs, a mirror on the back of the door, a TV, and photos of former defense secretaries on the wall.
An in-house construction crew then came in and removed everything, replacing the previous furniture with a new director’s chair and a large mirror with makeup lights, another source said.
The improvements, which reportedly cost thousands of dollars, came at a time when the administration was looking to cut costs, resulting in thousands of federal workers losing their jobs and major budget cuts across many programs and departments.
Hegseth himself has played an important role in these cuts, signing a memo in March titled “Continuing Elimination of Wasteful Spending at the Department of Defense,” which terminated over $580 million in “wasteful spending” on the department’s contracts and grants.
In a video posted to X, he said how these contracts and grants were “not a good use of taxpayer dollars.”
“Ultimately that’s who funds us, and we owe you transparency and making sure we’re using it well,” he added.
Another round of @DOGE findings here at the Department of Defense. pic.twitter.com/PSrHn8Zjlq
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) March 20, 2025
The Defense Department’s spokesperson told CBS News that they ensured the renovations would not be too costly.
“For this upgrade we were deliberately conservative and opted for several less expensive, on-hand material solutions,” they said.
According to them, the new items came from existing inventories and the new countertop was built by facilities services staff.
The upgraded green room will only be available to senior leaders and VIPs to use before press calls or TV appearances.
Former Fox News and CBS News producer Tami Radabaugh, who is currently the deputy assistant to the secretary for strategic engagement, was the one to suggest these renovations.
According to a source, she got the go-ahead from Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, and the chief Pentagon spokesman, Sean Parnell.
Hegseth has been under scrutiny ever since “Signalgate” in March, and faces yet another data security scandal after it was revealed that he shared sensitive information about upcoming military strikes in Yemen in another group chat with his wife, brother, and personal lawyer, among others.
He also ousted three handpicked top aides from his department and reassigned his chief of staff, Joe Kasper, last week.
Access to the Pentagon’s press briefing room has been restricted since February, with reporters losing one of the few spots where they could connect to Wi-Fi and film on-camera reports or file their stories. Now, no one is able to enter until an official is speaking inside.
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