Signalgate has come and gone. The media’s first attempt to hit Secretary of War Pete Hegseth with a broadside over the supposed leaking of classified war plans against the Houthis in Yemen made its way to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, who was added to the chat. Some people had their titles changed, but Hegseth is still at the Pentagon, and he’s not going anywhere. Yet, a retirement party over the summer seems to have exposed all of Hegseth’s enemies in one location, adding to the palace intrigue. 

It was for Col. David Butler, Chief of Army Public Affairs, with whom Hegseth has never gotten along. Earlier this year, he ordered then-Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to fire Butler, which led Butler to tender his resignation. 

RedState’s RC Maxwell had all the details about Driscoll, Hegseth, this retirement party, and members of the Democrat-media complex who were in attendance, including Mr. Goldberg:

RedState has learned that several journalists whose bylines have appeared on Hegseth-critical stories, including Jeffrey Goldberg of "Signalgate" fame, were among the guests invited to the June 20 retirement bash for Col. Dave Butler, the longtime spokesman for former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley whom Hegseth had ordered fired months earlier. Also at Butler's home that night: Milley himself and then-Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, a Trump appointee whose relationship with Hegseth had deteriorated and whom some of that same press coverage had portrayed as a rising Pentagon star.

The gathering — advertised as “The 5th Annual Butler Rager: Fired and Retired Edition” — brought together, socially and outside the Pentagon, figures who had become central to both sides of the internal fight: officials Hegseth's allies suspected of resisting his agenda and the journalists publishing anonymously sourced stories about that fight.

[…]

For Hegseth's allies inside the Pentagon, who already believed they were watching a coordinated whisper campaign play out in the press, the guest list was striking. Sources speaking to RedState on condition of anonymity say learning that Driscoll was partying with Milley, Butler, and journalists covering the Pentagon only deepened those suspicions.

[…]

Despite his ties to Milley, Butler became Driscoll's chief of Army public affairs and a senior communications adviser to both Driscoll and then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, a Biden nominee who'd formerly served as senior military assistant to then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Tensions between Butler and Hegseth were widely reported throughout 2025 and came into sharp focus when Butler traveled with Driscoll on the Army secretary's widely reported November 2025 trip to Kyiv.

After that visit, Hegseth pulled Driscoll off follow-on Ukraine talks, with sources telling The Telegraph that Driscoll “had his hand slapped.” A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RedState that Butler wasn't just a passenger on that trip, but was in the driver's seat, steering what the official described as a “public-affairs failure” meant to sow division.

[…]

According to two Pentagon sources, the White House and top Pentagon brass have long suspected that Butler played a key role in Milley's collaboration with authors working on books critical of President Trump's first term, including the 2021 rollout of “Peril” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. That book detailed Milley's calls to Chinese military officials after the 2020 election, leading then-Sen. Marco Rubio to brand those revelations “treasonous” and “reckless,” arguing they showed a disregard for civilian control of the military.

[…]

In a telephone call, Butler initially confirmed details about his party, including attendance by Driscoll, Milley, and several journalists, after this reporter claimed attendance at the event — to which Butler replied, “Awesome.” When then asked whether he had worked in concert with members of the media to leak information and smear Hegseth, Butler did not issue a denial. Instead, he abruptly ended the call, but not before muttering something and asking, “Robert, where do you work?”

A third Pentagon source told RC that he wouldn’t be shocked in the slightest if every leaker within the Pentagon, past and present, was at this shindig. Secret keggers with the deep state. How DC is that?