‘Of course he did’: Shock in the White House as Pete Hegseth’s aides outed for using illegal wiretaps

What started out as an investigation into one of the many Pentagon leaks that have occurred under Pete Hegseth led to a far more troubling discovery — an illegal wiretap.

While probing a leak about military options for reclaiming the Panama Canal, the White House stumbled upon something even more pressing than they had bargained for. The leak was initially pinned on Dan Caldwell. According to The Guardian, Caldwell was fired over the breach and escorted out of the Pentagon along with two others of Hegseth’s aides.

But that’s where the story takes a darker turn. When White House advisers began digging into how these three aides had been identified, the answer they reportedly received left everyone stunned. They discovered that the aides were tracked through an illegal, warrantless NSA wiretap. Advisers close to J.D. Vance noted that the wiretap was certainly unconstitutional — and would spark a bigger scandal than the leak itself. And given that this isn’t even the administration’s first leak, that suspicion felt entirely justified.

Those same advisers later backtracked, saying they couldn’t trust their own findings. According to the report, they claimed they were being “fed dubious information.” The Pentagon’s current official stance is that no one is aware of any illegal wiretaps — a direct contradiction of the reports coming from the White House. This disconnect is further complicated by Caldwell’s outright denial of any wrongdoing. It’s a web that has reportedly caused the White House to lose confidence in Pete Hegseth.

The breakdown in trust between the White House and Pentagon has become so severe that an advisor reportedly reached out to Hegseth directly to tell him they don’t believe his version of events. There are even whispers that the original leak was a setup — a political trap orchestrated by Hegseth to sideline aides he disagreed with. Hegseth has been rumored to be overly focused on the internal politics of his office.

That skepticism wasn’t just based on a hunch. Reportedly, following the firings, investigators discovered that Caldwell had printed the classified Panama Canal documents, taken a photo of them with his phone, and sent it to a reporter. But another, more troubling, layer emerged — a rumor circulating within the Pentagon. The rumor suggests that the investigation wasn’t even focused on Caldwell initially, and that no one knows how officials found out what was on his personal phone. That mystery is precisely what drew White House advisors deeper into the case. There’s even talk that this could ultimately lead to Hegseth’s ousting — and the reaction to that possibility is about as gleeful as Hegseth usually is when axing vital programs.

Online, Americans are already voicing their frustration with the growing dysfunction inside the Trump administration’s security apparatus. One user greeted the news with resignation, posting, “Of course he did!” in response to the possibility that Hegseth approved a wiretap. Another questioned who else might be under surveillance by this administration.

Of course he did!

— Roseann Cannon (@roseann_cannon) May 28, 2025

Gotta wonder who else in the admin is doing illegal wiretaps and who else they are wiretapping. I mean if they're doing it to staff, I can certainly see them doing it to their ideological enemies!

— Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) May 28, 2025

As for a resolution? There isn’t one. The case remains unresolved and unsolved, despite the conflicting reports from insiders. Hegseth’s office is currently operating in a state of limbo, with a rotating cast of advisors and a mounting trust deficit. His days at the Pentagon now seem increasingly numbered.