Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s shockingly not-private Venmo account shines a light into the shadowy corners of the supposedly antiestablishment warrior’s completely establishment inner circle—and also illuminates the path forward for Donald Trump’s Defense Department, according to a new report from The American Prospect.

The cast of characters listed under Hegseth’s friends on the mobile payment app, which includes Washington elites, defense contractors, and private health care executives, suggests that he plans to steer the Defense Department toward widespread privatization.

Heavily featured in Hegseth’s list of friends are executives at defense firms Palantir and Anduril, which already get millions off of the Defense Department.

Palantir recently extended an artificial intelligence contract with the U.S. Army that is projected to cost $401 million over four years, with a ceiling of $619 million. In October, Anduril scored a $250 million contract with the Pentagon to develop a drone defense system, in addition to already supplying counter-drone hardware and software to the U.S. Special Operations Command on a 10-year contract, which is worth up to $1 billion.

Hegseth’s list of Venmo buddies also includes Mike Gallagher, a former representative from Wisconsin who, after drumming up a lot of anti-China rhetoric as chair of the Select Committee on the CCP, vacated his seat last year to serve as head of defense at Palantir. His new employer stands to make a killing in AI contracts as a result of a breakdown in U.S. relations with China. Hegseth also had the contact for Christian Brose, chief strategy officer for Anduril.

Hegseth has more ties to Big Tech in the form of former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who leads the anti-antitrust Competitiveness Coalition, as well as Google’s former director of law enforcement and information security Richard Salgado, ​​and Evan Bahr, who served as an adviser to Peter Thiel’s hedge fund, according to TAP’s report. Hegseth’s ties to these sectors indicate that he will likely be open to outsourcing more massive government contracts to Silicon Valley.

Hegseth’s Venmo also revealed ties to several executives of the UnitedHealth Group, including a vice president, a product director, and a public affairs consultant. UnitedHealth is the largest administrator of Medicare Advantage, which is the largest administrator of the private Medicare option.

Hegseth has previously advocated for the privatization of Veterans Affairs, an agency he does not oversee but that manages the health care of the country’s veterans. He lobbied to restrict access to VA health care to only veterans with service-connected disabilities. In his capacity as head of DOD, Hegseth could push to privatize TRICARE, a health care program servicing uniformed military members, and continue to advocate to strip veterans of their government-offered health care option.

Hegseth’s lapse in personal security—a list of all his buddies available for public viewing—is a disturbing feature for the guy in charge of the Pentagon. Last month, Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth warned that Hegseth was potentially “vulnerable to blackmail,” given his shady dealings with a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017.

“What is he going to be willing to do to pay off the next accuser who might show up after he becomes secretary of defense and has access to the nuclear codes, and the location of U.S. troops around the world?” Duckworth said.

Elon Musk’s overnight ascendency to the Executive Branch doesn’t seem to bother his Republican allies who were actually elected.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared nonplussed by the incredible grip that the world’s richest man-turned-bureaucrat has over federal agencies.

“Is there an inconsistency by Republicans on one hand where we for years have not wanted ‘unelected bureaucrats’ downtown and yet ceding Article One powers to the executive branch under Elon Musk?” asked Fox News’s Chad Pergram.

“No, look, I’ve got to challenge the premise of the question, and you know me, I’m a fierce advocate and defender of Article One,” Johnson responded, referring to the Constitutional article that established Congress. “We’re going to vigorously defend that.”

“But I think there’s a gross overreaction in the media to what’s happening,” Johnson continued. “The executive branch of government in our system has the right to evaluate how executive branch agencies are operating and to ensure that not only the intent of Congress in funding mechanisms, but also the stewardship of precious American taxpayer dollars is being handled well. That’s what they’re doing by putting a pause on some of these agencies and by evaluating them, by doing these internal audits.”

REPORTER: Is there an inconsistency with Republicans railing against 'unelected bureaucrats' in charge and yet ceding Article 1 powers to the executive branch under Elon Musk?

MIKE JOHNSON: No, look ... I think there's a gross overreaction in the media to what's happening pic.twitter.com/F0K7kJ71EM

The Trump administration’s decision to freeze the distribution of trillions of dollars in congressionally appropriated funds was blocked on Monday by a federal judge who deemed the effort grossly unconstitutional.

Johnson described the freeze and Musk’s other attempts to get government agencies as a “long overdue, much welcome development.” He insisted that the effort is “not a power grab” while claiming that the halted taxpayer funds were being used to fund drag shows in Colombia and atheism camps in Nepal.

“We see this as an active, engaged, committed executive branch authority doing what the executive branch should do,” Johnson said.

The Democrats on the House Oversight Committee attempted to subpoena Elon Musk on Wednesday, only for Republicans to block the move, refusing to even entertain debate on having the tech mogul testify before Congress.

Ranking Member Gerry Connolly put forward a motion to subpoena the tech mogul, and the committee........

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