Group Boosting Hegseth Goes Quiet

A MAGA-aligned group that pledged last month to take a “smash-mouth” approach to defending Pete Hegseth and have his back “100 percent” has all but gone silent.

Veteran Action, which promised to boost the Defense secretary before adopting a more expansive advocacy agenda in the midterm elections, stepped back just as Hegseth came in for his latest round of controversy. Two of the group’s top allies have also been exiled from the Pentagon — disrupting the group’s broader efforts to promote “America First policies that support our Warfighters.”

Missing in action as Hegseth faces staff ousters amid a leak investigation, security lapses and allegations of mismanagement: Mark Lucas, founder of the group and a veteran of the Article III Project that was instrumental in Hegseth’s confirmation. Lucas, a devout Catholic, said he had “Easter break.”

In a brief phone interview Tuesday, Lucas told POLITICO that he was “trying not to do media” at the moment and that “Signalgate was a hoax.”

“All of the media, all of this attention, is just a sign that Pete is reforming the Pentagon,” said Lucas, who declined to provide data on how many texts, calls or letters his group had generated in Hegseth’s defense. It maintained a far more active public presence during the initial Signalgate controversy.

The group’s relative quiet reflects a larger conundrum surrounding Hegseth within the GOP, as some Republicans on Capitol Hill — while unwilling to denounce Hegseth publicly — areprivately growing increasingly concerned. That’s despite President Donald Trump and many in the GOP rallying to Hegseth’s defense.

The latest controversy surrounds ablistering opinion piece written in POLITICO Magazine by a former senior staffer who described dysfunction at the Pentagon, and revelations that Hegseth shared sensitive information about military operations in a Signal chat with his wife, brother and personal lawyer.

The X account for Veteran Action last published an original post seven days ago. It contained a statement from Lucas on the leak investigation that praised Hegseth’s now fired former senior adviser Dan Caldwell and former deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick as top advocates for “President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s America First policy agenda,” weakening the group’s ties to the Pentagon.

One person familiar with the situation, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal workings of Hegseth’s leadership, said that he knows Lucas, and “respects him,” and that allies’ exit doesn’t change the dynamic of Veterans Action being helpful.

“Regardless of what happens, Pete or who is or isn’t in the front office is going to need someone like Mark Lucas,” this person said. “I don’t think it removes the need for someone like Mark. In some ways, it just makes it more important.”

In the statement, Lucas said it was “suspicious that two of Secretary Hegseth’s most trusted and loyal advisors were the initial targets of an investigation to identify leakers undermining President Trump and the Secretary’s agenda.”

The group’s uneven start marks one of the first major setbacks for one in a constellation of ascendant conservative outside groups that have acted as the Trump administration’s political muscle through dicey confirmation fights and early stumbles.

“Pete Hegseth is doing a fantastic job, particularly killing terrorists and securing our border. This latest flare up is an unnecessary distraction,” said Mike Davis, who is counsel to Lucas and on the Veteran Action board. “President Trump fully supports him. We spilled too much blood getting him confirmed. We bruised too many Senate egos. He’s not going anywhere.”

But the organization’s silence in recent days is a far cry from Lucas’ chest thumping of just a few weeks ago. Then, Lucas was calling Signalgate a “fake scandal” and “warning members of Congress that they better have Pete Hegseth’s back, because we are watching closely their actions and we’re going to be around for the 2026 midterms and Veteran Action is going to help set the policy conversation for the 2028 presidential campaign.”

On Tuesday, he said of Hegseth simply, “He’s going to get through this storm. He always does.”