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International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Chelsie Napiza

Hegseth Secretly Hires MAGA Influencers to Wage Online Smear Campaigns Against Political Critics

Pentagon Pete Hegseth MAGA Donald Trump ARMY Sarah Rogers Department of War State Department the Department of Defence
The Pentagon confirmed that pro-Trump influencer Jennica Pounds held a government role, fueling scrutiny of Pete Hegseth’s ties to MAGA-aligned online voices, media access, and political messaging (Credit: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons)

A prominent pro-Trump social media influencer has been secretly working inside the Pentagon for months, a revelation that has renewed scrutiny of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's ties to friendly online personalities even as he has spent more than a year restricting access for the traditional press.

Jennica Pounds, who posts under the name DataRepublican to nearly a million followers on X, was confirmed this week to be working as a special government employee at the Department of Defence, which the Trump administration has renamed the Department of War.

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