Former Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot snapped back at claims he was “forced to resign” from his role Thursday, claiming colleagues have spread the rumor because they’re jealous of his relationship with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Flat out false and laughable,” Ullyot said of an Associated Press report that he was “asked to resign” following his disastrous performance on the job. “Sour-grapes anonymous spin is as inaccurate as it is laughable.”
Ullyot wasn’t fired, he insists—he quit—and the anonymous sources who spoke to the AP are just envious.
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“Department of Defense officials who hide behind anonymous statements clearly resent that they did not have the access or relationship to Secretary [Pete] Hegseth that I enjoyed under President Trump’s leadership,” Ullyot told Axios
Ullyot was one of the first people Hegseth tapped upon President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. He made waves helping the defense secretary purge the agency of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives—until he went too far, scraping a webpage about legendary black baseball star Jackie Robinson’s military service in March.
Ullyot announced his resignation on Wednesday, telling Hegseth he “was not interested in being number two to anyone in public affairs” after being shuffled off to a behind-the-scenes role and replaced by former Marine Sean Parnell after just two months in charge.
Ullyot, a longtime Trump loyalist who served as a key part of the president’s communications team during his election campaign and first term, has referred to DEI initiatives as “a form of Woke cultural Marxism.”
Early in his tenure, he faced further criticism for his controversial revamp of the Pentagon press pool, stripping outlets such as The New York Times, NPR, and Politico of their workspaces and bringing in pro-Trump organizations like Breitbart and One America News Network.
His dismissal comes after several of Hegseth’s top aides were suspended from duty and escorted from the Pentagon this week, as the Department of Defense seeks to tamp down on leaks following a month of negative press.
A Pentagon spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the department does not comment on ongoing litigation.
