11 July 2025

Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized pause on weapon shipments to Ukraine, sources sayTrump sharply criticizes Putin, announces weapons will go to Ukraine 8JUL25

Hegseth pauses weapons shipments to Ukraine without telling the White House.

So Sec of Defense fascist fotze petie lola hegseth just decided to stop weapon and ammunition shipments to Ukraine without discussing with and approval from the White House? That is pretty stupid no matter who is president including NOT MY president drump / trump. Just more proof he is not qualified for the job, he still does not even understand the job. But then again, drumpf / trump is not qualified to be president and does not understand his own job. This from CNN and the Washington Post.....

Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized pause on weapon shipments to Ukraine, sources say

By Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen, CNN

Updated 10:53 PM EDT, Tue July 8, 2025

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine last week, according to five sources familiar with the matter, setting off a scramble inside the administration to understand why the halt was implemented and explain it to Congress and the Ukrainian government.

President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that he was not responsible for the move. Asked on Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting whether he approved of the pause in shipments, Trump demurred, saying only that the US would continue to send defensive weapons to Ukraine. Pressed again on who authorized the pause, Trump replied, “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?”

The episode underscores the often-haphazard policy-making process inside the Trump administration, particularly under Hegseth at the Defense Department. The pause was the second time this year that Hegseth had decided to halt the flow of US weapons to Ukraine, catching senior national security officials off guard, sources said.

It first happened in February and the decision was quickly reversed, three of the sources said — mirroring what happened on Monday night, when Trump announced that the weapons shipments would continue despite Hegseth signing off on the pause.

The US special envoy to Ukraine, Ret. Gen. Keith Kellogg, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also Trump’s national security adviser, were also not told about the pause beforehand and learned about it from press reports, according to a senior administration official and two of the sources.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told CNN in a statement that said in part, “Secretary Hegseth provided a framework for the President to evaluate military aid shipments and assess existing stockpiles. This effort was coordinated across government.”

Asked whether Hegseth informed the White House prior to approving a pause on the shipments, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the Pentagon conducted a review “to ensure all support going to all foreign nations aligns with America’s interests,” and added that Trump “has made the decision to continue providing defensive weapons to Ukraine to help stop the killing in this brutal war, which the Pentagon has said they are actively working on.” She added that “the President has full confidence in the Secretary of Defense.”

Two of the sources attributed Hegseth’s not informing the White House to the fact that he has no chief of staff or trusted advisers around him that might urge him to coordinate major policy decisions better with the interagency partners.

Trump told Hegseth to restart some shipments

Shortly after learning of the pause last week, Trump told Hegseth to restart the shipment of at least some of the munitions — specifically, interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems, which have been critical to protecting Ukrainian civilians from relentless missile and drone attacks by Russia.

Many of the munitions are already in Poland and could be transferred to Kyiv quickly, the senior administration official said. The weapons package had been allocated by the previous administration and was already en route to Ukraine when it was stopped. In a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, Trump downplayed his role in the decision to halt the flow of weapons, CNN has reported.

The Pentagon did not announce until late Monday night, however, that it would restart shipments at the direction of the president — after Trump had said publicly earlier in the evening that the Ukrainians needed the defensive weapons to protect themselves.

Trump reiterated that position on Tuesday at the White House.

“I will say this — the Ukrainians, whether you think it’s unfair that we gave all that money or not, they were very brave, because somebody had to operate that stuff,” he said. “And a lot of people I know wouldn’t be operating it, they wouldn’t have the courage to do it.”

Trump also appears less inclined to give Russia a “win” at this moment by halting military aid to Ukraine, two of the sources said. He has soured on Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks as it has become increasingly clear that Putin is not willing to engage in peace talks with Ukraine.

“We get a lot of bulls**t thrown at us by Putin,” Trump said on Tuesday. “You want to know the truth? It’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

A European official told CNN that Trump’s frustration with Putin was clear during the NATO summit in the Netherlands last month, and that their understanding was that the pause in weapons shipments to Ukraine “genuinely did not originate” with Trump.

Trump requested assessment of US weapons stockpiles but not pause to Ukraine shipments

The Pentagon’s decision to suspend the shipments of weapons — including Patriot interceptor missiles and artillery ammunition — came after Trump asked Hegseth last month during their trip to the NATO summit to provide him with an assessment of US weapons stockpiles, one of the sources told CNN. Iran and Israel were bombing each other, and Trump wanted to be sure US troops in the region had sufficient munitions to defend themselves if necessary.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed last week that the department was conducting “a capability review … to ensure US military aid aligns with our defense priorities.”

But Trump did not specifically direct Hegseth to halt weapons shipments to Ukraine as part of that review, three of the sources said. That recommendation came from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, all five sources said, who has long been skeptical of sending large quantities of US military aid to Ukraine.

“A Europe first policy is not what America needs in this exceptionally dangerous time. We need to focus on China and Asia - clearly,” Colby wrote on X last year.

Colby then provided his recommendations to Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, who approved of the move — particularly because of his longstanding concerns that the defense industry is not moving fast enough to replenish US stockpiles, two of the sources said. Hegseth provided the final signoff, thinking it would align with Trump’s “America first” priorities, one of the sources familiar with his thinking said.

After the White House learned about the pause, White House officials told Hegseth and DoD that they would temporarily provide “cover” for the decision, two of the sources said. But the White House emphasized that the Pentagon had to explain the move to Congress, which also had not been informed of the pause beforehand.

Pentagon officials have argued to congressional staffers in recent days that the move was necessary because of US stockpile shortages, according to two sources familiar with the matter. But the sources said Congress has not been briefed on or given any information from the Pentagon that would suggest a critical and imminent shortage of weapons.

“Congress would be glad to work with DoD if credible evidence was presented that the Pentagon stockpiles were critically short, requiring them to take unilateral action like they did last week,” one of the sources said. The Pentagon routinely requests additional funding and authorization from Congress for long-term weapons procurement. “But there have been no new urgent requirements submitted to Congress from DoD for any of these munitions,” this person added.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood and Nick Paton Walsh contributed reporting.

Trump sharply criticizes Putin, announces weapons will go to Ukraine

“I’m not happy with Putin ... because he’s killing a lot of people,” Trump said. He decided to resume weapons shipments to Ukraine days after the White House announced a halt.

Updated July 8, 2025

President Donald Trump on Tuesday stepped up his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin as he reiterated plans to send more weapons to Ukraine to aid in its war against Russia.

“I’m not happy with Putin, I can tell you that much right now, because he’s killing a lot of people,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting. “We get a lot of bulls--- thrown at us by Putin. You want to know the truth? He is very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Putin “is not treating human beings right,” Trump said. “So we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I’ve approved that.”

Trump’s remarks came days after the White House announced that the Pentagon had halted deliveries of some key weapons to Ukraine.

The president announced the resumption of weapons shipments on Monday, as he spoke to reporters while he hosted a White House dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ukraine has to “be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now,” Trump said at that point.

The shipment will include “defensive weapons, primarily,” Trump said, remarking that “so, so many people are dying in that mess.”

Among the weapons that had been paused were air defense missiles, precisely at the time Russia dramatically increased its overnight bombardments of Ukrainian cities.

Trump’s comments appeared to mark an abrupt turnaround from last week, when White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said that the Defense Department had decided to halt some shipments to Ukraine after a review found American military stockpiles to be low. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said at the time that the department was conducting an ongoing review of military aid to countries including Ukraine.

That announcement caused confusion in Ukraine, where officials said they had not received notification that any weapons shipments would be paused, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was seeking clarification from Washington.

Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a tense exchange Thursday, which was followed by Russia pummeling Ukraine with 539 drones and 11 missiles, largely aimed at Kyiv, according to Ukraine’s air force. Trump said after his call with Putin that he was “very disappointed” and did not think the Russian leader wanted a ceasefire or an end to the more than three-year-long conflict.

Trump and Zelensky then spoke Friday; afterward the Ukrainian leader said it “was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive.”

He provided few further details, saying only that they discussed “air defense issues” and that the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system — which Ukraine needs to counter Russian missile attacks — was “precisely the key to protection against ballistic threats.”

Parnell said Monday that, at Trump’s direction, “the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace.”

“Our framework for POTUS to evaluate military shipments across the globe remains in effect and is integral to our America First defense priorities,” the statement added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was noncommittal about the news, saying that there had been “a lot of contradictory statements” and arms deliveries were certainly ongoing, especially from the Europeans. “These actions are not in line with attempts to promote a peaceful settlement.”

Russia is engaged in a summer offensive in eastern Ukraine, focused on the northern city of Sumy near its border and the eastern Donetsk region. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. during the Biden administration immediately became Ukraine’s biggest single-country backer and has allocated more than $120 billion in military aid since then.

Trump has insisted on taking a more diplomatic approach with Putin than had his predecessor, Joe Biden, and has also had a more fractious relationship with Zelensky.

Trump in March announced pauses in U.S. military aid deliveries and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after he and Vice President JD Vance clashed with Zelensky at the White House in front of cameras, but those suspensions were lifted later that month.

On Tuesday, the deputy speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Olena Kondratiuk, wrote on X that she welcomed the U.S. resumption of weapons deliveries.

“It’s the right decision to help Ukraine save the lives of civilians while Russia escalates terror against Ukrainian cities, [residential] buildings, and social infrastructure,” she wrote.

Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said it was “a positive signal.” Trump was beginning to understand that it “will be impossible to reach a deal with Putin,” he said, and that “leaving Ukraine without any assistance would be a huge mistake from the standpoint of U.S. national interests.”

Merezhko referred to a quotation often attributed to British wartime leader Winston Churchill, saying that Americans always do the right thing, “only after they have tried everything else.”

“In general with Trump, you have to look not at his words but at his concrete actions,” he said. “Unfortunately, experience shows that Trump often changes his mind.”