The Pentagon is running hot, and not just because of the war. Ricky Buria, chief of staff to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, reportedly told multiple colleagues he and Hegseth slipped past security at the Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City to hit a bar.
No one has proof it happened, and most insiders think he just made it up. Why he would, or what he hoped to gain, is anyone’s guess, and either way, it’s a mess.
The leading theory is that Buria planted the story to catch leakers. Hegseth’s drinking history made it the perfect bait. His ex-wife told the FBI he “drinks more often than he doesn’t.”
Former Fox colleagues said he smelled of alcohol before going on air. His Senate confirmation scraped through on a JD Vance tiebreaker only after Hegseth pledged not to drink “a drop of alcohol” to guarantee the country would have “fully dialed-in Pete” in times of crisis.
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A story about him sneaking out in disguise to break that pledge was exactly what a leaker would rush to reporters. Nobody published it. Some insiders took that as proof the trap worked. Others were furious the trap existed at all.
“I was talking to another Pentagon official and I said, ‘This is f—–g crazy. Ricky is telling people he put on disguises and went out drinking with the secretary,'” one source told the Post. The other official responded: “Yeah he was telling a lot of people this.”
The story came with details that made it harder to dismiss.
Buria told one source he found three bottles of hard liquor on a flight with Hegseth in April last year. “I protect him, don’t worry,” he reportedly said. He described the Ritz escape in specific terms. “A hat and sunglasses, or something to that effect, basically is all you need to be able to sneak out and that it was kind of amazing that nobody recognized them.”
When two officials cornered Buria about why he would spread a story implying Hegseth broke his sobriety pledge mid-war, his answer was thin. “Ricky’s immediate response there was he was just f—–g around.”
That did not land well.
Buria is a 44-year-old Biden administration holdover who climbed fast. The White House blocked his formal appointment for months over his past criticism of Trump and Vance. He had previously called Vance a “crazy” isolationist and expressed interest in running as a Democrat in Florida. Hegseth pushed for him anyway. Trump eventually gave in.
The drinking story is not Buria’s only problem. .Last week the New York Times reported he told Army Secretary Dan Driscoll that Trump “would not want to stand next to a Black woman at events,” opposing the promotion of Maj. Gen. Antoinette Gant. Driscoll fired back. “The president is not a racist or sexist.” He then took it straight to the White House. Gant got the promotion.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
