US President Donald Trump has begun publicly defending and framing the controversy around Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's alleged orders as a matter of personal loyalty and media hostility, laying rhetorical groundwork that could shift public and legal attention onto Hegseth.
In recent remarks aboard Air Force One and on social media, Trump repeatedly accepted Hegseth's denials and accused news outlets of fabricating anonymous claims; language that aides say is part of a broader effort to cast scrutiny as politically motivated.
