Pentagon Pete’s Secret Plot Against Top General Exposed

Detailed summary

Get full access to The Daily Beast for $1 Trending Now The military is preparing to bring criminal charges against a general Hegseth fired last month. The Pentagon is escalating…

The Pentagon is escalating its crackdown on suspected leakers by trying to make an example of a fired general.

The military is preparing to bring criminal charges against Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, a high-ranking Army officer whom Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired last month, The Washington Post reported.

The case represents an unusually aggressive effort, even for the Trump administration, to punish senior military leaders for allegedly sharing information with journalists.

Sylvia, 54, had reported to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Dan Caine, working as head of plans and policy.

But Hegseth fired him in October, asserting that he leaked classified information and deleted the Signal chat afterward. Hegseth also referred him to the Justice Department for criminal charges.

Now, the Post reports that the issue has been delegated to acting Army Secretary Adam Telle to determine if military disciplinary action is appropriate.

Pentagon officials have not been quiet about their quest to punish Sylvia.

After the news broke that Sylvia had been fired, Hegseth’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, wrote on social media: “Our commitment was not an empty promise. We vowed to find you, and we meant it.”

Still, questions remain about whether prosecutors could build a viable case against Sylvia, as the government has not charged him with any crimes. Hegseth’s previous attempt to punish supposed leakers within the Pentagon did not go anywhere after it was referred to the Justice Department.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Daily Beast. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.