Trump Explodes At Hegseth Over Iran War Missile Shortage

**Mike Baker** (0:12)
It's Friday, the 7th of August. Well, look at that, one week of August down, only three more to go. Is it just me or does anyone else feel like the year is just flying by?
Welcome to The President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, President Trump reportedly confronted Secretary of War or Defense, depending on which title you prefer, Pete Hegseth at Camp David over concerns that the war with Iran has severely depleted America's missile stockpiles. Now, the President is publicly denying those reports. I'll have the details. Later in the show, the US and Israel could soon become far more integrated on defense and intelligence under a proposal now making its way through Congress. Plus, a drone carrying explosives was found inside a major German cargo airport, marking the latest security scare involving Europe's critical infrastructure. And in today's Back of the Brief, two New Jersey water systems are the latest to be hit by cyberattacks that officials believe were likely carried out by Iran. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
President Trump is denying reports that the Pentagon is running dangerously low on critical munitions after five months of war with Iran. The pushback comes after new reporting that the issue sparked a confrontation with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and one day after reports on the growing concerns over America's weapons stockpiles emerged. According to an exclusive report from the Washington Post, President Trump confronted Secretary Hegseth during a cabinet meeting at Camp David last Friday, over what the president believed were severe shortages of long-range precision munitions and air defense interceptors. Citing two people familiar with the exchange, the Post reports that Trump demanded to know why he had apparently been led to believe that the problem had already been fixed. The newspaper says the shortages have become serious enough to constrain America's military options in the Iran War. According to the report, they were also one reason that President Trump recently called off additional large scale strikes against Iran, despite publicly threatening to hit the regime, quote, very hard. The report also claims that Hegseth defended himself during the exchange and pointed to Deputy Defense Secretary Steven Feinberg for not fully informing the president about the state of America's weapons inventories. Ah, see, the buck stops somewhere downhill. Watch out for that moving bus, Feinberg. Now if you've been listening to the PDB this week, none of this should come as a complete surprise. On Wednesday, we covered Reuters reporting that America's stockpiles of several key long range weapons had been severely depleted during more than five months of combat with Iran. Reuters reported that the Pentagon had exhausted virtually its entire inventory of Army tactical missile systems, better known as Atacams, and it also burned through a substantial share of its Tomahawk cruise missiles during the conflict. Today's reporting from the Washington Post expands on that picture. According to the newspaper, the US has fired more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles, more than 1,000 Patriot and FAD air defense interceptors, and over 1,300 Army tactical ballistic missiles since the war began. Those, as you might imagine, are significant numbers, and replacing those weapons isn't as simple as placing another order. Even after Congress appropriates funding, many of these advanced precision-guided missiles take months or even years to manufacture. The Pentagon has already asked lawmakers for an additional $67 billion in emergency funding to replenish stockpiles depleted by the Iran conflict, but Congress has yet to approve the request. The shortage is also reportedly affecting more than just operations against Iran. According to The Post, dwindling inventories have complicated America's ability to continue supplying Ukraine with desperately needed air defense interceptors. The paper also reports that US commanders have begun making more selective decisions about when to use certain interceptor missiles, preserving them for only the highest-priority threats.
But almost as quickly as the story emerged, the White House launched an aggressive effort to knock it down, except they lacked the interceptors. Ha! See what I did there? But to the point, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt flatly denied that the Camp David confrontation ever took place. Writing on social media, she said she had attended the meeting and declared, This literally never happened. She also dismissed speculation that the President had lost confidence in Secretary Hegseth insisting that President Trump loves the Secretary and thinks he's doing a tremendous job.
The Pentagon echoed that response. There's a surprise. Chief spokesman Sean Parnell called the reports of both the confrontation and depleted stockpiles, equally fictional, saying Secretary Hegseth had not misled the President and had never blamed Deputy Secretary Feinberg for any weapons shortages. Then President Trump weighed in personally. Posting on Truth Social, the President insisted that the US has massive amounts of munitions and said new weapons are being manufactured and shipped as needed. He also lashed out at those leaking information about America's military inventories, calling their actions, quote, treasonous and warning that officials responsible could face lengthy prison sentences. So you ask, where does that leave us? At this point, we have two separate questions. The first is whether the reported confrontation at Camp David actually occurred. The White House says it's absolutely fictional. The Washington Post stands by its reporting. The second and arguably more important question here is whether America's stockpiles of critical weapons have been significantly depleted by five months of war with Iran. On that point, multiple news organizations, including Reuters, the Washington Post and CNN have now reported concerns about dwindling inventories of some of the Pentagon's most important missiles and air defense interceptors. The administration, of course, again, strongly disputes those reports.