The president is not in control of his own government.
Last week’s sudden pause on a weapons shipment to Ukraine was the handiwork of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—who didn’t bother to inform the president before enacting it, five sources familiar with the situation told CNN. Practically everyone was blindsided by news of the halted shipment, including the White House, the State Department, Congress, Kyiv, and America’s European allies, setting off a mad dash within the administration to explain the unexpected directive.
Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that he was “not responsible” for the canceled shipment, telling the war-battered leader that he had directed a review of U.S. stockpiles but did not order the freeze, according to sources that spoke with The Guardian. The president reiterated that point during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, telling reporters that he didn’t know who authorized the move.
It’s not the first time that Hegseth has intervened in U.S. foreign policy without Trump’s express approval: In February, the Pentagon chief executed the same flub, pausing a weapons shipment to Ukraine despite the fact that Trump had announced the flow would continue.
Two of the sources that spoke with CNN claimed that Hegseth’s poor planning was in part due to the boiling drama around him at the Pentagon. With no chief of staff or trusted advisers, Hegseth is making major policy decisions solo.
The decision to cancel the shipment was grounded in the Pentagon’s global munitions tracker, The Guardian reported Tuesday. The tracker had highlighted that a number of critical munitions had fallen below a minimum readiness standard for several years, at least since President Joe Biden began sending weapons to assist Ukraine in its war against Russia. But senior military officials and Democratic lawmakers have insisted that there’s no evidence that America’s munitions supply would warrant peeling back support from Ukraine.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told CNN that “Secretary Hegseth provided a framework for the president to evaluate military aid shipments and assess existing stockpiles.”
“This effort was coordinated across government,” Wilson told the network.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump still has “full confidence” in his defense secretary.
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