The Pentagon denied that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was chewing gum on Wednesday ahead of a dignified transfer ceremony for troops who died in the Iran war, after he was seen chewing as he arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
“This reporting is inaccurate,” the Defense Department said in response to a reporter from The Daily Beast.
Hegseth was on hand, alongside the president, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Den Caine, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, among others, to honor the arrival of six fallen service members who died in a plane crash last week above Iraqi airspace.
Officials said six crew members were aboard the KC-135 refueling plane that went down: Maj. John A. Klinner; Capt. Ariana G. Savino; Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt; Capt. Seth R. Koval; Capt. Curtis J. Angst; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons.
“Every person on that aircraft carried a weight most Americans will never see, and they carried it with professionalism, courage, and a level of quiet excellence that deserves to be recognized,” retired Lt. Col Ernesto Nisperos, who knew one of the victims, said in a text message Wednesday to The Associated Press.
The military is investigating the cause of the incident, which was not a result of “hostile or friendly fire,” according to officials.
The dignified transfer ceremony was reportedly closed to the media at the request of family members of the deceased, though the White House later published photos of it on X.
The Trump administration was criticized for its handling of a previous dignified transfer ceremony earlier this month for soldiers killed in a drone attack in Kuwait, the first U.S. deaths in the Iran war.
The president was photographed wearing a white baseball cap with the letters ‘USA,’ prompting criticism from those who saw the choice as disrespectful.
Fox News was later drawn into the criticism for airing old footage of Trump at a different ceremony on a broadcast about the commemoration, a mistake the network said happened “inadvertently,” though some online speculated the network was trying to cover for the president.
A political action committee supporting the president later used a photo of the ceremony in a fundraising email, prompting a fresh wave of outrage.
Overall, 13 U.S. service members have died in the Iran conflict, and around 200 have been injured.
The USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, meanwhile, has begun sailing to Crete for repairs after a string of mechanical issues, including a fire onboard.
The administration is grappling with growing criticism of the war, including from inside its ranks.
Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned this week, saying Iran posed no “imminent threat” to the U.S.
During testimony before the Senate on Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declined to comment on whether intelligence officials had concluded Iran was an imminent nuclear threat in the run-up to the war, even though her written statement suggested Iranian nuclear capacity had been destroyed during U.S. strikes last year.
