President Donald Trump said on April 23 that Secretary of the Navy John Phelan stepped down after “conflicts” with other Pentagon officials over shipbuilding and ship procurement.
Trump did not name the officials Phelan was at odds with, but said that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was not among them.
“I really liked him, but he had some conflict with, not necessarily Pete, with some other. He’s a hard-charger and he had some conflicts with some other people, mostly as to building and buying new ships,” he told reporters at the White House.
“Got to get along, especially in the military, got to get along, you know. And some people liked him, some people didn’t, and that’s usually the truth about everything.”…