Speaking on behalf of his father President Trump, Donald Trump Jr. formally banished a former staffer to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from the MAGA movement as turmoil engulfs the Pentagon.

“This guy is not America First,” Trump Jr. wrote on social platform X. “I’ve been hearing for years that he works his a-- off to subvert my father’s agenda. That ends today.”

“He’s officially exiled from our movement,” Trump Jr. added.

Hegseth official exiled

The former official, John Ullyot, recently stepped back from his role as the acting assistant to Hegseth for public affairs and wrote a scathing op-ed for left-wing rag Politico, describing Hegseth's first month on the job as a "total chaos."

Ullyot urged Trump to fire Hegseth, adding that President Trump "deserves better" from his Cabinet. But Trump and his inner circle have been closing ranks behind Hegseth as the anti-woke Defense Secretary faces mounting scrutiny.

“The president absolutely has confidence in Secretary Hegseth. I spoke to him about it this morning, and he stands strongly behind him,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.

In his op-ed, Ullyot said he supported Hegseth during his dramatic Senate confirmation battle, one of the most contentious of any of Trump's Cabinet members. Vice President J.D. Vance broke the tie after Hegseth failed to get enough GOP support.

“Yet even strong backers of the secretary like me must admit: The last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon — and it’s becoming a real problem for the administration," Ullyot wrote.

Pentagon in turmoil

Democrats are raising fresh calls for Hegseth to step down over his handling of sensitive information. He faced criticism in March for using the encrypted chat app Signal to text details about a strike in Yemen, and then the New York Times reported Sunday that Hegseth was involved in a second Signal chat, including his wife and brother.

This comes as the Pentagon has been purging top Hegseth staffers for allegedly leaking to the press. Former senior adviser Dan Caldwell, former deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll accused the Pentagon of "slandering" them with false accusations of disloyalty, while Caldwell claimed he was targeted specifically for opposing an attack on Iran.

Trump's officials have been divided on whether to use force or diplomacy to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. Trump reportedly shut down - with Hegseth's backing - a planned Israeli attack on Iran that called for U.S. support. Vice President J.D. Vance, a close friend and ally of Trump Jr., also supports using negotiation over military force.

Trump Jr. has long acted as a gatekeeper for his father's MAGA movement. The president's eldest son keeps a vigilant watch over "neocons" who want to undermine the president's agenda with "forever wars" overseas.

The Pentagon drama escalated further on Tuesday as Hegseth warned in a Fox News interview that "leakers" may be prosecuted. He also accused Ullyot of lying to the press.

"We did right by him. We tried to help. He's spinning it otherwise. It's too bad. It's politics I guess," Hegseth said.