AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth denied a report by CBS News claiming he ordered a room near the Pentagon press briefing room to be equipped with a makeup studio to be used for TV hits.
The modifications were reportedly set to cost around $40,000, but were scaled back. CBS News reported:
An in-house construction crew renovated the adjacent green room earlier this year. The room previously had minimal furnishings — a table with chairs, a TV, photos of former defense secretaries and a mirror on the back of the door, one source said.
The table was removed and a new chair and large mirror with makeup lighting was installed, another source said.
Hegseth is doing his own makeup ahead of TV appearances, not paying for a makeup artist, a defense official told CBS News.
“Changes and upgrades to the Pentagon Briefing Room are nothing new and routinely happen during changes in an administration,” a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement.
Hours later, Hegseth tweeted a denial, calling the report “fake.”
“1) Totally fake story. No ‘orders’ and no ‘makeup’ — but whatever,” he tweeted. “2) We should have installed tampon machines in every men’s bathroom at DoD instead — the leftist “news” media would have loved that.”
Hegseth’s tenure as Defense secretary has been marred by what one Pentagon official described as “chaos.”
On Monday, The New York Times reported that Hegseth shared plans about upcoming airstrikes with his wife, brother, and lawyer via Signal, an encrypted messaging app. Last month, The Atlantic reported that Hegseth shared the same plans with more than a dozen government officials in a group chat on the Signal messaging app. And last week, Hegseth lost four staffers. The secretary has responded in each case by yelling at the media.
