For more than a year, some of the most damaging stories about Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his inner circle have followed a familiar formula: explosive claims attributed to unnamed Pentagon officials, published by reporters with deep sources inside the building. At the same time, some of those stories have elevated officials increasingly at odds with Hegseth — fueling suspicions among his allies about who was talking to whom.
Then came a retirement party in Alexandria.
RedState has learned that several journalists whose bylines have appeared on Hegseth-critical stories, including Jeffrey Goldberg of “Signalgate” fame, were among the guests invited to the June 20 retirement bash for Col. Dave Butler, the longtime spokesman for former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley whom Hegseth had ordered fired months earlier. Also at Butler’s home that night: Milley himself and then-Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, a Trump appointee whose relationship with Hegseth had deteriorated and whom some of that same press coverage had portrayed as a rising Pentagon star.
The gathering — advertised as “The 5th Annual Butler Rager: Fired and Retired Edition” — brought together, socially and outside the Pentagon, figures who had become central to both sides of the internal fight: officials Hegseth’s allies suspected of resisting his agenda and the journalists publishing anonymously sourced stories about that fight.
…….For Hegseth’s allies inside the Pentagon, who already believed they were watching a coordinated whisper campaign play out in the press, the guest list was striking. Sources speaking to RedState on condition of anonymity say learning that Driscoll was partying with Milley, Butler, and journalists covering the Pentagon only deepened those suspicions.
Despite his ties to Milley, Butler became Driscoll’s chief of Army public affairs and a senior communications adviser to both Driscoll and then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, a Biden nominee who’d formerly served as senior military assistant to then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Tensions between Butler and Hegseth were widely reported throughout 2025 and came into sharp focus when Butler traveled with Driscoll on the Army secretary’s widely reported November 2025 trip to Kyiv.
After that visit, Hegseth pulled Driscoll off follow-on Ukraine talks, with sources telling The Telegraph that Driscoll “had his hand slapped.” A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RedState that Butler wasn’t just a passenger on that trip, but was in the driver’s seat, steering what the official described as a “public-affairs failure” meant to sow division.
The final straw came in February, when Hegseth ordered Driscoll to fire Butler. Butler submitted retirement papers instead. That ouster has been reported; Butler’s retirement party being a union of unlikely guests has not.
According to two Pentagon sources, the White House and top Pentagon brass have long suspected that Butler played a key role in Milley’s collaboration with authors working on books critical of President Trump’s first term, including the 2021 rollout of “Peril” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. That book detailed Milley’s calls to Chinese military officials after the 2020 election, leading then-Sen. Marco Rubio to brand those revelations “treasonous” and “reckless,” arguing they showed a disregard for civilian control of the military.
According to these books, Milley said he believed Trump would create a “Reichstag moment” after the 2020 election in order to invoke the Insurrection Act, comparing Trump’s rhetoric to Hitler’s; told his Chinese counterpart he would provide advance warning of a U.S. attack; and later called Trump “fascist to the core.” In 2021, Milley told the Senate the China calls were part of his duty. He would not confirm the Reichstag and Hitler lines and said he had not read the books.
Butler was Milley’s chief spokesperson and top strategic communications adviser when that record was built. In that role, he was the point man for the press operation around the situation and the official line that followed. On September 15, 2021, after Milley’s calls with China were reported, it was Butler who issued the Joint Staff’s written defense, saying the conversations were routine counterpart talks coordinated with the Defense Department and intended to maintain “strategic stability.”
Years later, Butler was back in a top Pentagon public-affairs position — this time under the Trump administration — before Hegseth ordered him removed.
In a telephone call, Butler initially confirmed details about his party, including attendance by Driscoll, Milley, and several journalists, after this reporter claimed attendance at the event — to which Butler replied, “Awesome.” When then asked whether he had worked in concert with members of the media to leak information and smear Hegseth, Butler did not issue a denial. Instead, he abruptly ended the call, but not before muttering something and asking, “Robert, where do you work?”
……..A third Pentagon source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RedState the reporting on the guest list was accurate and confirming that “even Jeffrey Goldberg was in attendance at his party.”
That source added, “The attendance of former Army Secretary Driscoll, Col. Butler, and who knows how many other current officials at this party mingling with Mark Milley and journalists who routinely seek classified information to leak is inappropriate. I wouldn’t be surprised if the individuals at this party were leaking their entire time while at the Department. This secret gathering of military officials and journalists is the embodiment of the Swamp that the American people are sick of.”
A club for disgruntled backstabbers, seditionists, traitors, and swamp rats to rant, console each other, and vent their spleens over being dismissed for their disloyalty.
Milley, in particular, is a prime example of a subversive.
He was an active facilitator of leftist political indoctrination in the military.
He was fully prepared to commit sedition to overthrow a duly elected president because Trump offended his woke, socialist ideas.
According to Bob Woodward and Rob Costa’s book, “Peril”, Milley called ChiCom General Li Zuocheng. He did not inform anyone, including President Trump, of the phone call. Here was Milley’s message for the ChiCom military. “Gen. Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be OK. We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.” “Gen. Li, you and I have known each other for five years. If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”
He also had a meeting with DOJ hack Merrick Garland to discuss targeting American citizens.
According to CNN, who reviewed the book, Milley ‘called a secret meeting in his Pentagon office on January 8 to review the process for military action, including launching nuclear weapons. Milley instructed them not to take orders from anyone unless he was involved. “No matter what you are told, you do the procedure. You do the process. And I’m part of that procedure,” Milley said, according to the book. “Got it?” asked Milley. “Yes, sir,” replied his senior staff.
According to a former Assistant Secretary of the Army, Milley’s megalomania is a ‘pattern of behavior’.
He reminds me of James Mattoon Scott in the movie Seven Days in May.
He had no authority to call the general of an enemy of the U.S., behind the back of a duly elected President. He acted like he had just conducted a military coup. He gave orders for his staff to follow him; not the constitution, the congress, or proper military channels.
He should be charged under Article 88 and Article 94 of the UCMJ. He has a Napoleon complex and cannot be trusted to uphold the Constitution. When a U.S. military general says the United States military must remove a President by force and says, “We’re the guys with the guns”, he presents a clear danger to the country and our democratic republic. He’s an out-of-control buffoon.
Milley, Driscoll, and Butler deserved the expulsion they got.