Donald Trump is edging toward war while his defense secretary is soaking up the sun, toes out.
On Wednesday, the same day reports swirled that Trump, 79, was on the verge of launching a strike on Iran that could ignite a war at any moment, Pete Hegseth was posing for beachside photos with Dr. Mehmet Oz.
“Secretary Pete Hegseth visited us for a beachside brunch,” Oz, now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) chief, wrote on X.
“He can turn a leisurely afternoon into a MAHA extravaganza with tree pull-ups, a cold plunge, and a Mediterranean feast!” the top health official, 65, posted.
One photo shows the former Fox News host, 45, and the reality TV personality, both suntanned, plunging their hands into a tub of water.
In another, Hegseth, a National Guard officer who launched his television career as a pro-Iraq-war commentator, and who now asks to be referred to as the “secretary of war,” dangles from a palm tree in flip-flops across from a shorts-wearing Oz.
The third image captures a lavish spread of Mediterranean dips, which the two Trump officials reportedly dined on—presumably after working up an appetite from so much horsing around.
The photos appear to have been taken at Oz’s Palm Beach residence.
The former TV health expert was busted inviting pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to a 2016 Valentine’s Party at the 10-bedroom mansion, years after Epstein became a convicted sex offender. The invite was revealed in the tranche of files released by the Department of Justice regarding the investigation into the disgraced financier.
Meanwhile, sources told Axios on Wednesday that the 79-year-old president is growing weary of the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran and could follow through on his threats to launch a wide-scale military operation.
“The boss is getting fed up. Some people around him warn him against going to war with Iran, but I think there is 90 percent chance we see kinetic action in the next few weeks,” one Trump adviser told Axios.
The U.S. entering a potentially unpopular war in the Middle East could also be disastrous for the GOP in November’s midterm elections, where Republicans are already expected to suffer an electoral wipeout.
Last week, Trump made clear he was prepared to escalate the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. “Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time,” Trump told Axios.
While Hegseth is having leisure time, Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff—a former real estate mogul with no prior diplomatic experience—and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is married to the president’s daughter Ivanka, led the U.S. delegation for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear deal in Geneva on Tuesday.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Defense for comment.
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