A former top Pentagon spokesman who says he has stood with President Donald Trump since 2016 is calling on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to step down. He argues that Hegseth is hurting the president and the Republican Party.
John Ullyot, a Marine Corps veteran who served as chief Pentagon spokesman early in Trump’s second term, told MS NOW host Antonia Hylton on Saturday that Hegseth is unfit for the job. He said that if Hegseth is truly loyal to the president, he should resign.
“You’d get off the stage if you were truly loyal to President Donald Trump,” Ullyot said.
Ullyot argued that Hegseth lacks the military background, management experience and temperament the job requires.
“[Hegseth] could’ve run the presidential physical fitness council, like Arnold Schwarzenegger did, that would’ve been a perfect fit,” Ullyot said. “But to run the department of defense is a very serious job, and he didn’t take a serious approach.”
“He is very much damaging the president’s brand, no question about it, and the Republican brand,” he added.
Ullyot also tied his criticism to the Iran war, which House Republicans have pointed to as a major source of frustration after the party’s midterm losses. He said the defense secretary is responsible for munitions stockpiles and for advising the president on the conflict. If reports are true that Hegseth was the war’s top “cheerleader,” Ullyot said, he should quit.
The interview capped a week of public attacks from the former spokesman. On Tuesday, Ullyot appeared on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” after the House voted 211 to 204 on Nov. 10 to send Rep. Thomas Massie’s impeachment resolution against Hegseth to committee. Ullyot said the president “deserves better” and predicted Hegseth will eventually be impeached.
On CNN, Ullyot also said Hegseth looked like a “Fox News fire breather” during a combative press conference. He said Hegseth “makes it about himself, not about the troops,” and that Trump “doesn’t need this headache.”
In a Nov. 13 op-ed in The Atlantic, Ullyot called Hegseth the least qualified defense secretary in modern memory. He pointed to a September Quinnipiac poll that showed 32% of voters approving of Hegseth’s performance and 57% disapproving.
Ullyot’s relationship with the Pentagon ended on rocky terms. He left in April 2025 after a short stint leading the department’s press operation, which drew heavy criticism after a webpage about baseball legend Jackie Robinson’s military service was taken down during the administration’s purge of diversity, equity and inclusion content. The page was later restored.
Ullyot said at the time that he chose to leave. A senior defense official told The Associated Press that Hegseth’s office had asked him to resign.
Shortly after leaving, Ullyot wrote in Politico that the Pentagon was in a state of “dysfunction” and that Hegseth was ordering “strange and baffling” purges. He has since published a book, “The President Deserves Better,” in which he criticizes Hegseth and other administration officials.
Ullyot previously led communications for the National Security Council in Trump’s first term and held a senior communications role on the 2016 Trump campaign.
