The Washington Post just got caught manufacturing another hoax against the Trump administration.
This time they accused Secretary of War Pete Hegseth of committing war crimes based on anonymous sources.
And Pete Hegseth was stunned when a fake news hoax was debunked by the last place he ever expected.
The Washington Post tries to destroy Pete Hegseth with anonymous sources
The Washington Post published a front-page exclusive claiming Secretary of War Pete Hegseth verbally ordered U.S. forces to "kill everybody" aboard a suspected drug-trafficking vessel during a September 2 special operations strike in the Caribbean.
"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. 'The order was to kill everybody,' one of them said," the Post reported.
After the first strike left two survivors clinging to wreckage, the Special Operations commander allegedly ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth's directive.
The two survivors "were blown apart in the water," according to the Post's anonymous sources.
Democrat lawmakers immediately seized on the Post's anonymous sources to create a full-blown hoax that Hegseth committed war crimes.
They demanded investigations and hearings while legacy media talking heads spent Sunday morning shows repeating the war crimes accusations as established fact.
The coordinated attack had Democrats calling for Hegseth's resignation within hours of the Post's story dropping.
Former military lawyers piled on, arguing the reported second strike would violate both domestic and international law if the Post's fabricated version of events was accurate.
Even The New York Times saw through the Post's thinly sourced fiction
The New York Times stepped in with their own investigation that directly contradicted the Post's explosive claims.
When even the Times — the same paper that won a Pulitzer for peddling the Russia collusion hoax — won't back up your story, you know the reporting is garbage.
Four Times reporters interviewed five separate U.S. officials who all told the same story — one that didn't match what the Post published.
"According to five U.S. officials, who spoke separately and on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter that is under investigation, Mr. Hegseth, ahead of the Sept. 2 attack, ordered a strike that would kill the people on the boat and destroy the vessel and its purported cargo of drugs," the Times reported.
The critical difference comes in what happened next.
"But, each official said, Mr. Hegseth's directive did not specifically address what should happen if a first missile turned out not to fully accomplish all of those things," the Times continued.
Admiral Frank M. Bradley ordered both the initial missile strike and several follow-up strikes that killed survivors and sank the disabled boat.
The five officials confirmed that as the operation unfolded, Hegseth gave Admiral Bradley no further orders.
The Times also noted a glaring problem with the Post's reporting that should have prevented publication.
"The Post article did not provide context on when Mr. Hegseth gave what its sources described as a spoken order to kill everyone," the Times wrote.
The Times exposed the Post for doing exactly what they've done for years — fabricate a scandal, use anonymous sources so nobody can verify the lies, let Democrats run wild with accusations, and hope the damage sticks after the truth destroys their narrative.
The Washington Post has been running this same con for years
This isn't some isolated mistake by sloppy reporters.
The Post has been running the exact same con for nearly a decade.
The Federalist's Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway nailed it when she pointed out the disturbing pattern.
"It is not surprising that the WashPost, which originated the Russia collusion hoax, the Kavanaugh hoax, and the first Trump impeachment hoax, would run another false info op," Hemingway wrote on X.
Think about that for a second.
The Russia collusion hoax that paralyzed Trump's first term for three years? The Post led that charge and won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage based on the completely discredited Steele dossier.
They published story after story about Trump-Russia conspiracy theories that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation couldn't prove because none of it was real.
The Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation battle where they amplified decades-old sexual assault allegations that couldn't be verified by a single witness? The Post was all over that too.
The first impeachment of Trump over a phone call that went absolutely nowhere? Check — the Post helped fuel that disaster as well.
See the pattern?
Anonymous sources make explosive accusations → Democrats scream for investigations → Media runs with it as proven fact → Truth comes out months later → Nobody at the Post faces consequences → Rinse and repeat.
Now they tried running the same playbook on Hegseth.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed a second strike occurred but explained Admiral Bradley gave the order and acted within his authority.
"President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narcoterrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war," Leavitt stated. "With respect to the strikes in question on Sept. 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes."
Hegseth defended Admiral Bradley in a post on X, writing: "Let's make one thing crystal clear: Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since."
The September 2 strike was the first of more than 20 operations targeting drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific as part of Trump's broader pressure campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and narco-terrorist organizations.
These strikes have eliminated nearly 100 drug traffickers and significantly reduced the flow of narcotics poisoning Americans.
The operations are working exactly as designed.
And that's precisely what has the Post and their Democrat allies terrified.
Trump is succeeding where Biden failed miserably for four years.
The Post couldn't let Trump chalk up another major victory in the war on drugs — not when they've spent years telling readers he's a dangerous lunatic who shouldn't be trusted with military operations.
So they manufactured a war crimes scandal out of thin air using anonymous sources who couldn't keep their story straight.
They tried to destroy Hegseth's credibility and undermine successful military operations that are saving American lives.
But here's what really guts them: even The New York Times wouldn't touch their garbage reporting.
The Washington Post just exposed themselves as propagandists willing to accuse America's military leaders of war crimes based on lies.
And they got caught red-handed by their own allies in the media.
¹ Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima, "Hegseth gave directive to 'kill everybody' in first Caribbean strike, sources say," The Washington Post, November 28, 2025.
² Charlie Savage, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt, and John Ismay, "Hegseth Did Not Order Second Strike on Drug Boat, Officials Say," The New York Times, December 2, 2025.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Karoline Leavitt, Statement during White House Press Briefing, December 2, 2025.
