Defense Secretary and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth reportedly ordered a makeup studio to be installed in the Pentagon so he can freshen up for TV appearances.
The vanity project was initially planned to cost taxpayers $40,000 before being scaled back, according to CBS News.
Hegseth’s powder area is reportedly located inside a green room next to the Pentagon’s press briefing room. CBS sources said a table with chairs was removed to make room for a new chair and large, lighted makeup mirror.
The 44-year-old Pentagon chief recently boasted he’d purged the Department of Defense of “illegals, trans & DEI” as he strives to promote “warfighting over wokeness” in the U.S. military.
A defense official said Hegseth does his own makeup rather than hiring a professional. He announced plans to cut more than $5 billion in defense spending earlier this month.
A Defense Department spokesperson explained to CBS News that “Changes and upgrades to the Pentagon Briefing Room are nothing new and routinely happen during changes in an administration.”
Hegseth reportedly got the idea for a cosmetics space from a former Fox News producer serving as his deputy assistant for strategic engagement. The Secretary’s wife, a former Fox News producer, seconded the idea to install a backstage makeup area.
The well-coiffed cabinet member has spent a lot of times in front of cameras in recent weeks following reports he shared sensitive information about U.S. bombing strikes on the commercially available chat platform Signal with numerous people including his spouse. He appeared on Fox News Tuesday to defend those communications as “informal, unclassified coordinations for media coordinations and other things.”
He also accused “left-wing reporters” of trying to create problems for President Trump. The White House has expressed support for Hegseth as pressure mounts to boot the former soldier, who was confirmed by the Senate to head the Defense Deparment in late January.
