MAGA nation is having a full-blown meltdown after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “unusually large” personal security detail was exposed Wednesday.
Members of President Donald Trump’s administration tore into The Washington Post, which reported that Hegseth’s extensive personal security requirements are straining the Army agency tasked with protecting him. According to the paper, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has been forced to pull agents from criminal investigations to safeguard Hegseth’s family residences in Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C.
MAGA Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, an ally of Trump, went as far as to accuse the publication of “treason” as she called for the FBI to open an official investigation into “the leakers and the hacks who printed it.”
The outrage comes after an unnamed CID official told the Post they had “never seen this many security teams for one guy…Nobody has.”
White House officials condemned the reporting as irresponsible in light of last year’s assassination attempts against Trump. On July 13, 2024, a gunman’s bullet grazed Trump’s ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. One attendee was killed and two others were wounded before Secret Service fatally shot the alleged gunman, Thomas Crooks. Just weeks later, agents foiled a second assassination attempt at Trump’s Florida golf course.
“In the wake of two assassinations attempts against President Trump, ICE agents facing a 1000% increase in assaults, and repeated threats of retaliation from Iran for striking their nuclear capabilities, it’s astonishing that the Washington Post is criticizing a high-ranking cabinet official for receiving appropriate security protection, especially after doxxing the DHS Secretary last week,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to the Daily Beast.
Parnell said “any action pertaining to the security of Secretary Hegseth and his family has been in response to the threat environment and at the full recommendation the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID).”
He added: “When left-wing blogs like the Washington Post continue to dox cabinet secretaries’ security protocols and movements, it puts lives at risk.”
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson wrote on X: “By publishing details about Secretary Hegseth’s security protocols, the Washington Post is actively putting him and his family in danger for clicks. These ‘reporters’ are disgusting.”
The Pentagon’s Rapid Response account added on X: “Today, this so-called ‘journalist’ decided to write about Secretary Hegseth’s security protocols. President Trump was SHOT and nearly KILLED just last year—yet the corporate media STILL plays reckless games with people’s lives. Have they learned NOTHING?”
Rep. Luna, a Florida Republican, fumed on X: “WaPo just doxxed sensitive info about @SecDef’s SECURITY DETAIL. This isn’t journalism, it’s a national security threat.
“I’m calling on @FBIDirectorKash & @FBIDDBongino to open an official FBI investigation into the leakers and the hacks who printed it. TREASON won’t hide behind a press badge.”
WaPo just doxxed sensitive info about @SecDef’s SECURITY DETAIL. This isn’t journalism, it’s a national security threat.I’m calling on @FBIDirectorKash & @FBIDDBongino to open an official FBI investigation into the leakers and the hacks who printed it. TREASON won’t hide… https://t.co/gSC1lksXUq
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) August 20, 2025
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the FBI for comment.
The Post reported that Hegseth’s protective detail is “unusually large” and that they have been tasked with monitoring residences not only for Hegseth and his current family but also his two former spouses to protect their children, an arrangement that CID officials described as unusual.
CID’s agents have at times been pulled from investigations “doing what we are supposed to be doing”—to “sit on luggage” instead or “sit in the cars on the driveway,” said one official.
“It is literally taking away from [CID’s] law enforcement mission,” they added. “You are taking hundreds of people out of the field to provide this level of protection.”
A Senior CID Official said in a statement to the Daily Beast that while the department prioritizes the safety and security of assigned high-risk personnel, CID “operates within existing resource constraints and proactively adjusts its efforts to address emerging threats and maintains a robust security posture in both the investigative and protective realms.”
The official said Hegseth “never requested additional protection for his former spouses. Similarly, the Secretary has never affected CID’s recommended security posture.”
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