White House says Trump “loves” Hegseth, dismisses report about him as smear

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hit back at what she called efforts to smear Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying President Donald Trump "loves" him and believes he is doing a fantastic job.

In a post on X, she said a Washington Post report alleging US missile shortages was a coordinated attempt to discredit Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Caliber.Az reports.

Leavitt insisted that the claims are unfounded.

"This B.S. story was shopped to many outlets by someone clearly out to disparage the Secretary, for whatever reason. Unfortunately for them, the President loves the Secretary and thinks he’s doing a tremendous job," Leavitt wrote on X.

I was at Camp David with President Trump and Secretary Hegseth. This literally never happened, and we told the Washington Post that repeatedly. This B.S. story was shopped to many outlets by someone clearly out to disparage the Secretary, for whatever reason. Unfortunately for… https://t.co/BUwn11nC52

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) August 6, 2026

Earlier, The Washington Post, citing sources, reported that Trump confronted Hegseth during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential retreat in Camp David on July 31, demanding an explanation after allegedly being misled about a critical shortage of weapons amid tensions with Iran. According to the newspaper, Trump lashed out at Hegseth because he believed the ammunition issue “had been fixed.”

"I was at Camp David with President Trump and Secretary Hegseth. This literally never happened, and we told the Washington Post that repeatedly," Leavitt noted.

On August 5, Hegseth also rejected as false a CNN report claiming the Pentagon's stockpiles of key munitions had fallen to dangerously low levels. In late July, the Associated Press reported that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine had directly informed Trump that current missile stockpiles limited Washington's ability to further escalate any conflict with Iran.

Trump has previously denied reports that ammunition shortages, including air defence missiles, were among the reasons for his decision not to resume full-scale military action against Iran.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov