WASHINGTON — A top aide to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Ricky Buria, told colleagues last year that he and his boss wore masks and went out drinking together — a rumor believed to be false and recklessly planted to sniff out whistleblowers, the newspaper said.
Two sources said Buria, 44, told them separately in early 2025 that he and Hegseth, 45, went over the secretary’s security detail while he was staying at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Pentagon City.
There is no evidence that the great escape actually took place, but the myth has resurfaced among the administration and fueled ongoing frustration with Buria’s powerful role in leading US military policy.
Many people close to or inside the Trump administration say they believe Buria, the Biden boss who developed a fast friendship with Hegseth, was trying to catch the leakers — but put the secretary at risk of being slandered at the time.
Both sources who heard the story directly from Buria questioned the Pentagon official’s judgment and motives for spreading the potentially dangerous story, which they said was told often enough that firing the source would be difficult.
Hegseth publicly vowed ahead of his January Senate confirmation that he would not drink “a drop of alcohol” to ensure the country would “go full Pete” in times of trouble, following reports of drunken misconduct in the past.
The Post’s first source said he was shocked when Buria told him the story in the Pentagon offices in late March or April.
“My first impression was that he was trying to find out if I would tell other people. But then I found out after a few months that he was running around telling people,” said the source.
“It was a weird way for him to brag. It was obviously part of this incredible effort to make it seem like he was Pete’s best friend and confidant.”
“I was talking to him [a different Pentagon official] and I said, ‘This is crazy. Ricky is telling people that he put on a disguise and went out with the secretary drinking,’” recalls the first source.
“[The other official] he said, ‘Yes, he was telling a lot of people this.'”
The source did not recall Buria, who quickly rose from his first position as a junior military aide to Hegseth’s right-hand man, specifying the camouflage worn or the bar the men allegedly visited. Another official the source remembered talking to was not available for the interview.
“This didn’t happen. But anyway, he told people it happened,” said the first source.
“It didn’t happen because the secretary has a security detail. He brought this up as a way of trying to make it seem like he’s really close to Hegseth and possibly has power over him.”
Several additional sources familiar with Buria, including one with knowledge of the matter, suspect that he was trying to trap the leakers after continuing to stir up drama in the department – however, significantly, no outlet is ignorant enough to publish these allegations.
Trump’s second administration, especially the White House, has been disciplined about ending leaks and punishing those involved, although allegations of fraud without authorization are often more difficult to prove due to the widespread use of encrypted applications.
Buria’s rise coincided with the deepening of his friendship with Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer, as several of the defense secretary’s associates were forced out of their positions over alleged leaks, many of which were later exonerated.
“Ricky holds one of the most important positions in the Department of War. He is responsible not only to help manage the office of the secretary but also to drive the coordination of important activities throughout the department and all the administrations,” said the first source.
“Behavior like this creates distractions in the department as it tries to carry out multiple military missions without fail. From day one, as adjutant general and as chief of staff, Ricky has been raising the level of drama, mystery and conflict in the secretary’s office.”
While the first source believes that Buria is lying about a fraudulent plot to increase his position, the second source said that he initially took the drinking issue for granted.
The topic came up during a flight in April when Buria revealed that about three bottles of Macallan whiskey had been consumed on the trip, without saying by whom.
“Ricky then goes on to say, ‘I’ve got him covered, don’t worry’,” he insisted Hegseth ate, before opening his account for the Ritz-Carlton caper.
“He said that at the right time [Hegseth] he used to live at the Ritz [his DC] the house was fine but once in Tennessee that ‘hat and glasses,’ or something like that, is basically all you need to be able to sneak out and it was amazing that no one noticed,” the source said.
“[Buria] he said, ‘Yeah, look, I’m just here to make sure he’s safe and he doesn’t get into any kind of trouble and people don’t know him. But yes, we have to sneak in.’”
The second source said that he and another officer who heard the matter while on the plane got angry and went up to Buria asking why he would say that he is breaking Hegseth’s vow not to drink alcohol.
“Ricky’s response at the time was that he was just talking to himself. It was because the temperature was rising,” said the source.
Another man said he was part of that conversation and denied that he remembers the episode through a spokesperson contacted by The Post and did not directly respond to requests for an interview.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told The Post: “This is false, and the Department will not entertain Washington gossip while we focus on major military operations abroad.”
Buria is a rare Biden administration protégé who clearly dreamed of a political future as a Florida Democrat before making a rare and swift leap from his uniformed role to become Hegseth’s chief of staff last year.
Pentagon aides heard Buria criticize President Trump’s use of the military along the southern border and said he called Vice President JD Vance an isolationist “lunatic,” The Post reported last year.
The New York Times reported last week that Buria last summer had a “heated exchange” with Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, a friend and law school classmate of Vance’s, over Driscoll’s selection of Maj. Gen. Antoinette R. Gant for promotion to command the Military District of Washington.
Buria told Driscoll that Trump would not want to stand next to a black woman at events, the Times reported, prompting an angry response from the Army chief, who told Buria “the president is not racist or sexist.” Driscoll raised the argument with the White House, and Gant received a promotion.
The White House last year blocked Buria from officially becoming Hegseth’s chief of staff because of concerns about his compatibility with the administration. Trump eventually apologized to Hegseth, who insisted Buria was important, and allowed his promotion as chief of staff in December.
