US Navy head steps down after clash tied to Trump - WSJ
Photo: John Phelan (navy.mil)
The head of the US Navy (USN), John Phelan, has resigned. The likely reason is a conflict with the Pentagon over his ties to US President Donald Trump, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Sean Parnell and The Wall Street Journal.
"Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately... we are grateful to Secretary Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy. We wish him well in his future endeavors," Parnell wrote.
He added that the acting head of the US Navy will be the outgoing deputy secretary, Hung Cao. The reasons for John Phelan's resignation are not provided.
But, according to the WSJ's sources, the Navy chief was fired after several months of tension in his relationship with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth. The conflict arose from Phelan's close ties to US President Donald Trump.
The Wall Street Journal’s article states that Phelan regularly speaks with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club, which is near his home in Florida, and that last year he told lawmakers he exchanges text messages with the president about shipbuilding in the middle of the night.
Three officials said that last fall, senior Pentagon leadership was particularly irritated when Phelan directly proposed the idea of building a modern battleship to Trump, bypassing Hegseth.
Since then, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his deputy Steve Feinberg have worked to undermine John Phelan's position by creating a new czar for submarine procurement — a role typically under the Navy's purview and reporting directly to Feinberg.
The WSJ notes that Hegseth has already fired nearly two dozen senior military leaders and has been at odds with US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll since early last year.
As for Phelan, his dismissal came in the midst of the Navy's largest conference of the year, after he had spent the previous few days convincing industry representatives and the media of the Navy's priorities.
It also came the day after the Pentagon presented details of its budget request to the US Congress, including $65.8 billion for shipbuilding.
The personnel changes took place against the backdrop of a massive naval blockade in the Middle East being conducted by the US military. More than 15 warships are already in the region to support operations against Iran.
Other resignations
For context, at the very beginning of April, CBS News learned that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth asked the Chief of Staff of the US Army, General Randy George, to resign. Within hours of this information emerging, it was officially announced that the general was leaving his post.
Also in March, we wrote that the director of the US Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, also resigned. In that case, the reason was his disagreement with the American war against Iran.
