*Pete Hegseth’s Hypocrisy: Going After Leakers While Ignoring His Own Leak*

By any honest measure, Pete Hegseth’s recent crusade against government “leakers” is one of the most stunning cases of political hypocrisy in recent memory. The Fox News personality, a staunch conservative and frequent critic of federal whistleblowers, has taken to his platform to lambast those who dare expose wrongdoing or classified information. But what he conveniently leaves out—what his audience may not know—is that he himself played a central role in one of the most egregious security leaks in decades.

Let’s rewind.

Back in 2023, during a Fox News broadcast, Hegseth held up a stack of classified documents live on air. They were part of a batch that had been leaked by Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who shared top-secret Pentagon intelligence in a private Discord group. In his rush to praise Teixeira as a "whistleblower" and criticize the Biden administration, Hegseth broadcast documents that had not yet been redacted or cleared for public consumption.

This wasn’t some vague reference or summary of what was in the documents. It was a literal, visual leak on live television. And it wasn't done by some rogue staffer or anonymous user on a fringe message board. It was done by a well-paid, highly visible media figure with millions of viewers.

What’s more astonishing is that there was barely any acknowledgment from Fox News or Hegseth afterward. No apology. No admission of crossing a line. No accountability. If anything, Hegseth doubled down, portraying himself as a patriotic truth-teller while ignoring the very real national security implications of what he had done.

Now fast-forward to 2025. Hegseth is on a new tear, condemning leakers within the federal government as “traitors” and “deep state operatives” bent on sabotaging America. He rails against anonymous sources in journalism. He calls for harsh punishments and even jail time. But he says this with a straight face—as if he wasn’t the guy who, not long ago, leaked sensitive military intel to millions of Americans over breakfast TV.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t just hypocrisy. This is weaponized doublethink.

Hegseth’s approach reflects a deeper trend in right-wing media, where loyalty to a narrative trumps consistency, ethics, or national interest. Leaking is treasonous when it challenges the conservative agenda. But when it can be used to embarrass a Democrat, attack the Pentagon, or undermine U.S. allies? Suddenly, it's “patriotism.”

This performative outrage also exposes a dangerous misunderstanding of what whistleblowing actually is. True whistleblowers expose wrongdoing in the public interest, often at great personal risk, and usually through legal channels. Teixeira, who leaked classified documents for clout in a private group chat, was not acting in the public interest. He wasn’t exposing corruption. He wasn’t seeking accountability. He was just showing off. Hegseth’s glorification of him—and then his public display of those documents—undermines the credibility of actual whistleblowers and puts lives at risk.

Even more disturbing is the lack of consequences. While Teixeira now faces years behind bars, Hegseth remains a regular face on television, never held accountable for amplifying that leak. The imbalance is telling: the rank-and-file leaker gets punished, but the media figure who profits off the leak gets airtime and applause.

The irony, of course, is that Hegseth is now demanding a crackdown on precisely the kind of actions he once celebrated. He’s furious about leaks—but only the ones that don’t serve his side politically. It’s not about protecting classified information. It’s about controlling the narrative. And in that game, truth is just another tool—or casualty.

The public deserves better than this bait-and-switch. If leaking truly threatens national security, it threatens it no matter who’s holding the papers. If exposing secrets on air is wrong, it’s wrong whether the culprit is an anonymous source in the State Department or a television host with a flag pin on his lapel.

Until Pete Hegseth is willing to reckon with his own role in endangering national security, his outrage over leaks is nothing more than hollow theater—loud, performative, and riddled with contradictions. And frankly, it's insulting to anyone paying attention.