Purges within the Pentagon were framed by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as the outcome of an investigation into leaks disclosing top-secret military plans to members of the media. That narrative, however, was refuted in an op-ed by one of the men who resigned and has been labeled a “traitor” by Donald Trump Jr.

John Ullyot, who served in multiple roles under President Donald Trump since joining his 2016 campaign, wrote in Politico that Hegseth’s firings were a fake-out intended to mask total “disarray” taking place inside the Department of Defense. The former spokesman resigned from the Pentagon last week.

“Hegseth’s team has developed a habit of spreading flat-out, easily debunked falsehoods anonymously about their colleagues on their way out the door,” he wrote in Politico.

The op-ed was shared on X by Alex Burns, a senior editor with the outlet, and was quoted by Trump Jr.

“This guy is not America First. I’ve been hearing for years that he works his ass off to subvert my father’s agenda. That ends today. He’s officially exiled from our movement,” wrote the first son early Monday morning.

The administration risks hurtling toward another media-driven scandal under Hegseth, who on Sunday was the focus of two mainstream media stories alleging he shared additional sensitive materials in other group chats that included his wife, brother, and attorney. Trump Jr.’s salvo underscores the gravity with which the president’s inner circle is treating the potential of a new round of stories about leaks at the Pentagon.

Since Signalgate, the administration has had to contend with leaks disclosing a purported plan to show Elon Musk the nation’s hypothetical response to a military attack by China, as well as backbiting within the upper echelons of the department.

Hegseth attempted to put those allegations to rest with the firings of Joe Kasper, his former chief of staff, and Dan Caldwell, one of his leading advisors, for making “unauthorized disclosures” to the media. Darin Selnick, the Pentagon’s deputy chief of staff, was also suspended as part of the probe and escorted out of the building, sources told Politico.

But according to Ullyot, the administration has refused to allow both men to sit for a polygraph after initially threatening them with the requirement that they pass a lie detection test to keep their jobs.

“[N]ot one of the three has been given a lie detector test. In fact, at least one of them has told former colleagues that investigators advised him he was about to be cleared officially of any wrongdoing,” Ullyot wrote.

The former Hegseth advisor credited the cabinet member’s team with ferreting out “woke” initiatives in the military that took place under the Biden-Harris administration, including the injection of identity politics into mandatory training and hiring processes and the lowering of fitness requirements across the board.

With enemies both inside and outside the Pentagon, it’s all but assured that the cold war between Hegseth and his former aides won’t be ending anytime soon.

“Given his record of holding prior Cabinet leaders accountable, many in the secretary’s own inner circle will applaud quietly if Trump chooses to do the same in short order at the top of the Defense Department,” warned Ullyot.